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The Schindler Terrace, an early modern garden: a case for conservation

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The Schindler Terrace, an early modern garden: a case for conservation

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THE SCHINDLER TERRACE, AN EARLY MODERN GARDEN:
A CASE FOR CONSERVATION

by
Brandy Lusvardi

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

December 2017

Copyright 2017 Brandy Lusvardi

ii

This thesis is dedicated to

Professor Kevin Starr
Grandpa Buck
and
Chris

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have been extremely fortunate with the faculty, advisors, and institutions that have helped
me in the course of writing of this thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis Chair,
Trudi Sandmeier, Director of Graduate Programs in Heritage Conservation at USC. Her guidance
and patience through this process is something for which I am very grateful. Her knowledge and
passion for preservation is immense, and I feel lucky to have studied under her.
I would also like to express gratitude to my second committee member, Brian Tichenor, for
he provided me the inspiration to study this garden. His course “Authenticity and Artifice: A Study
of the Invented Landscape of Southern California” was my first academic foray into the subject of
landscape design. This class opened my eyes to the unique geography, climate, and circumstances
that have shaped the landscape of Los Angeles, and this has greatly impacted the way in which I
view the city I live in.
My third committee member, Katie Horak, also deserves much thanks. She was kind enough
to join my committee and offered thoughtful suggestions that greatly help articulate the story of the
Schindler Terrace. Her notes and insight are much appreciated.
I would also like to extend thanks to two professors at USC who were particularly inspiring
during my coursework: Ken Breisch who encouraged me, after participating in an intensive summer
course, to join the School of Architecture’s Heritage Conservation program, and Professor Kevin
Starr, a remarkable man whose knowledge of California was surpassed by none.
In addition, the following people and institutions were of the utmost help with my research:
Jeffery Herr (Curator of the Hollyhock House), Virginia Kazor (past curator of the Hollyhock
House), the staff of the Architecture and Design Collections at the University of California Santa
Barbara, the UCLA Special Collections Department, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and the
City of Los Angeles Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.
Finally, I would like to thank my husband Chris and my daughter Jessica, for their patience
and support during this endeavor.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Figures vi
Abstract viii
Introduction 1
Modernism Takes Root in Los Angeles 1
Overlapping Themes with Europe 1
Migration to Los Angeles 2
Distance Creates Freedom 2
Geography and Climate 3
Modernist Pioneers 3
Inspiration – Cultures of the Past and Modern Art 4
New Architecture Equals New Landscape Design 5
Earlier Garden Styles 5
Plan and Composition 6
One of the Earliest Modern Gardens 7
Chapter One 8
The Beginnings – Olive Hill, Aline Barnsdall, and Frank Lloyd Wright 8
An Ideal Setting 10
Perfect Timing 12
Inspiration at Olive Hill 13
The Son Shines – Lloyd Wright in California 14
A Joint Effort 16
Rudolf Schindler 17
1920 – Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler and Irving Gill 19
The Schindler House on Kings Road 20
No Ill Will 21
Frank Lloyd Wright Returns 22
Chapter Two 24
Beyond the Hollyhock House 24
The “Little Dipper” 29
Building Comes to a Halt 35
Change in the Plan 35
Chapter Three 37
A Modern Garden Emerges 37
Heading West 39
1925 – The Neutras Arrive in California 39

Chapter Four 47
A Description of the Schindler Terrace 47
Chapter Five 69
Weaving the Threads of Context Together 69

v
Chapter Five (continued)
Bigger Projects 69
Architectural Group for Industry and Commerce (AGIC) 70
Different Directions 70
Summary 73

Chapter Six 74
Heritage Conservation and the Schindler Terrace 74
Current Conditions of the Garden 74
Historic Designed Landscapes 81
Addressing Conservation 82
Education 84
Security 85

Conclusion 86
Areas for Further Study 86
Bibliography 88
Appendix 98
Appendix A: Select Chronology of Buildings and Events 98
Associated with the Schindler Terrace and Olive Hill

vi
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Aline Barnsdall and her daughter, undated photograph 9
1.2 Fine Arts Building - Chicago, Illinois, 1900 9
1.3 A view of East Hollywood looking north from Olive Hill, 1896 10
1.4 Two men at the top of Olive Hill overlooking Hollywood, 1905 11
1.5 View to the northwest from Olive Hill, 1906 12
1.6 Midway Gardens, completed 1914 13
1.7 Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hardy House, from Wasmuth Portfolio 14
1.8 Lloyd Wright’s Taggart Residence, built 1922 15
1.9 Irving Gill’s Nelson Barker Residence - San Diego, 1910 16
1.10 Taos Pueblo, October 1915 – Photograph by Rudolf Schindler 18
1.11 Rudolf Schindler’s home-studio on Kings Road, 1924 21
1.12 Hollyhock House 23

2.1 Millard Residence - Pasadena, California 25
2.2 Aerial view of Olive Hill and Aline Barnsdall’s property 26
2.3 Olive Hill Block Plan - August 4, 1920 27
2.4 Plan for the CPSM, 1923 28
2.5 Additional plan for the CPSM, 1923 28
2.6 Roman amphitheater in Fiesole, Italy 29
2.7 Floor plan of the school and playhouse – the “Little Dipper” 30
2.8 Additional plan for the school and playhouse, the “Little Dipper,” 1923 30
2.9 Perspective of the CPSM, 1923 31
2.10 Perspective of the western façade of the CPSM, 1923 32
2.11 CPSM elevation, August 1923 32
2.12 Additional CPSM elevation, August 1923 33
2.13 CPSM elevation and example of textile block 33

3.1 Einstein Tower, Potsdam, Germany 38
3.2 Schindler’s “Sketch for a Fountain,” April 1924 41
3.3 Detail of the Parker Residence, 1924 43
3.4 Schindler and Neutra – Wading Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles 45
3.5 Schindler and Neutra – Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, 1925 45
3.6 Schindler and Neutra – Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles 46
3.7 Another version of Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles – erased initials 46

4.1 Historic American Building Survey – Barnsdall Park, 1969 47
4.2 Map of Olive Hill Showing Land to be Subdivided, 1927 48
4.3 Portion of the retaining wall and bench in the bowl area 49
4.4 Fountain for a Terrace on Olive Hill, April, 1924 50
4.5 Another view of the retaining wall and bench in the bowl area 50
4.6 Tiled Fountain for A. Barnsdall, Olive Hill, LA 51
4.7 View of the fountain, 2011 52
4.8 Bas-relief sculpture, part of the fountain 52
4.9 1942 Irrigation Plan 53

vii
LIST OF FIGURES (continued)

4.10 L-shaped seat 54
4.11 View of the flowerpot, 1992 54
4.12 Concrete block wall and flowerpot 55
4.13 Landscape plan with “present flowerpot” 56
4.14 Working Drawing of Wading Pool, March 1925 57
4.15 Construction of the Wading Pool 57
4.16 The flowering lawn 58
4.17 Gazebo, 2011 59
4.18 Wading Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles, July 1925 60
4.19 Working drawing of the pergola, 1925 61
4.20 Additional working drawing of the pergola, 1925 62
4.21 Boys floating boats in the wading pool 63
4.22 Wading pool with smooth concrete, flowerpot, and pavers 64
4.23 View of the wading pool, looking north 65
4.24 Aline Barnsdall near the wading pool 66
4.25 LA Times photograph – Children at the pool, 1927 67
4.26 Undated image of the empty wading pool 68
4.27 Aline Barnsdall sitting on edge of flower bed 68

5.1 Translucent House for Aline Barnsdall by Rudolf Schindler, 1927-1928 72
5.2 Lovell Health House 72

6.1 Current fence restricting access to the Schindler Terrace 74
6.2 South end of garden site – the rounded bench and fountain 75
6.3 Fountain with missing concrete blocks and tiles 76
6.4 Southwest area of garden site – Base of a flowerpot and an L-shaped bench 76
6.5 Remains of the “western wall” and dry expanse of lawn 77
6.6 Flowerpot in the north end of the garden 78
6.7 Wading pool, smooth concrete platforms, and concrete blocks 78
6.8 View of the concrete platforms and wall with damaged blocks 79
6.9 Flower beds with terraces and pergola in the background 80
6.10 Aaron Axelrod performs “Dark Matter” at the Hollyhock House 81

viii
ABSTRACT
Southern California witnessed a surge in cultural activity in the early decades of the twentieth
century. Artists, architects, entrepreneurs and the like, flocked to Los Angeles - a city with an
agreeable climate, open space, distance from more established cities, and an overall “sense of
freedom.” Many transplants found Southern California to be fertile ground for the development of
new and unconventional ideas. During this time, modernism took root and was reflected in a variety
of avenues, including the region’s architecture and landscape design. One such property belonged to
Aline Barnsdall. Her property in Los Feliz served as a nexus for the modern movement, of which
her Hollyhock House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1921) is widely recognized.
This thesis looks at a lesser known garden adjacent to the Hollyhock House. Located on the
western slope of the property, the site of Schindler Terrace was initially designed as a school,
playhouse, and memorial. Unusual circumstances led to its conversion, that of a terrace garden. The
site reflects the impact of a core group of early modern architects - Frank Lloyd Wright, his son
Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler, and Richard Neutra. Each played a role in the evolution of the site,
albeit at different times, resulting in one of the earliest modern gardens in California. The Schindler
Terrace serves as an important piece of California’s landscape architecture narrative. This thesis will
explore a history of the site, the architects involved, the emergence of a modern garden, and a call
for conservation.

1
INTRODUCTION
Modernism Takes Root in Los Angeles
The earliest decades of the twentieth century were a hotbed of cultural activity in Southern
California, particularly in Los Angeles. It was during this time that the groundwork began to form
for “modernism,” a distinctive new design aesthetic that would eventually permeate many branches
of the arts. This included, but was not limited to architecture, landscape design, painting, literature,
performance arts, and graphic design.
1
Proponents of this new movement believed that the future
could (and should) look different. Their aim was to reject the past, and “reshape the existing social
order through progressive design.”
2
Stylistically, this meant the stripping away of unnecessary
ornament, materials, and mass. In California, modernism also embraced the regionalism that made it
a unique place to live, and this was reflected in its architecture. A major component in this was the
area’s geography and climate. Modernism in Southern California fundamentally changed the way in
which people lived, worked, and perceived their built environment and this, in turn, had a direct
effect on the outdoor spaces that surrounded them.

Overlapping Themes with Europe
During this time, artistic and architectural endeavors in Southern California coincided with
an overlapping avant-garde art movement flourishing in Europe.
3
Many of these groups shared
modernistic principles with the Americans (such as functionalism and anti-ornamentation). The way
in which these ideas manifested - especially architecturally - were similar, yet different, in both
Europe and California. The modern architecture of the Europeans (in general) veered towards an
“International Style,” one in which buildings could exist separate from their site, in almost any
setting. This “distance from nature” approach was significantly different from what was evolving in
Los Angeles. On the West Coast, geography, climate, and localism were embraced by the transplants

1
Information for from this chapter was primarily taken from the following sources, unless noted otherwise:
Thomas Hines, Architecture of the Sun: Los Angeles Modernism, 1900-1970 (New York: Rizzoli, 2010).
Victoria Dailey, Natalie Shivers, and Michael Dawson, LA's Early Moderns: Art, Architecture, Photography (Los Angeles:
Balcony Press, 2003). Wendy Kaplan, Bobbye Tigerman, Glenn Adamson, and Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965 (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 2011). Wade Graham, American Eden: From Monticello to Central Park to Our Backyards, What Our Gardens
Tell Us About Who We Are (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011). Kevin Starr, Material Dreams: Southern California
Through the 1920's (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). Jere Stuart French. The California Garden, (Washington
D.C.: The Landscape Architecture Foundation, 1993).
2
Dailey, Shivers, and Dawson, LA Early Moderns), 133.
3
In Vienna there were the secessionists, and in Italy, the futurists. Meanwhile, the French were embracing cubism, and
the Dutch had the De Stijl. Germany, saw the development of the Bauhaus, and in Russia - constructivism.

2
moving to the state, and this played a significant role in the burgeoning modern movement that was
being shaped by regionalism.

Migration to Los Angeles
The modern movement in Los Angeles was literally a movement - of people, ideas, art, and
design. The “land of sunshine” welcomed those from around the country, and further afar. Artists,
architects, entrepreneurs, and the like, were drawn to an agreeable climate, open space, distance
from more established cities, and an overall “sense of freedom.” Many of these transplants saw
Southern California as fertile ground for the development of unconventional ideas. A newly opened
aqueduct in 1913 provided an abundant supply of water to the Southland, which would help
contribute to the growth of the region, as well as the unique gardens and landscapes for which
Southern California would become famous.
In addition to the masses migrating from the East Coast and the Mid-West, an
unprecedented wave of immigration by Europeans took place in the years in between the World
Wars, as they were fleeing the oppression of Hilter’s regime. “Los Angeles became known as “the
new Weimar” as it attracted dozens of Austria’s and Germany’s leading designers, dramatists,
musicians, filmmakers and writers.”
4
A cross-pollination began that melded a European and
American experience.

Distance Creates Freedom
The physical distance that separated Southern California from Chicago, New York and
Europe offered architects and artists a “freedom from European tradition” and entrenched
institutions. This geographic barrier also allowed those newly arrived in Southern California an
opportunity to reinvent themselves if they so desired. The booming film industry added yet another
layer to the creative scene. An aesthetic synergy began to form as like-minded individuals landed in
Los Angeles. Artists inspired (and were inspired by) other artists, as they started working with their
open-minded peers. Individuality was encouraged in these circles, and patrons of the arts served as
an extended family of sorts. Social relations held all of them together in their new-shared vision for
the future, and the creative scene in Los Angeles was unique:
…nature-based and carefree, not heavy with the burdens of history, culture or society. While

4
Dailey, Shivers, and Dawson, LA Early Moderns, 133.

3
Mrs. Astor might be giving a ball in New York for her four hundred carefully selected
guests, the businessmen of Los Angeles were making plans for the annual Los Angeles
Flower Festival and Fiesta, a street celebration open to all.
5

Geography and Climate
A key ingredient in the evolution of modernism in Los Angeles was the environment.
Foothills, the ocean, and mountains to the north helped to comprise the varied terrain of Southern
California, which offered endless opportunities for inspiration. The favorable mediterranean weather
enabled people to enjoy the pleasures of living and being out-of-doors year round. The impact this
had on architecture and landscape design was enormous, as the “magnificent natural geography and
climate led to the regions’ unique variation on modernism.”
6
Combined with a more relaxed and
informal lifestyle than the “traditional circles” back east or in Europe, Los Angeles “provided the
ideal environment for modernism to take root and flourish, but in its own way.”
7

Modernist Pioneers
Southern California has a unique architectural legacy, which includes that of the Native
Americans and Spanish settlers. Irving Gill was one of the earliest modern architects in the region,
and he embraced this legacy, using it as inspiration for his work. He arrived in Southern California in
1893, working in San Diego and Los Angeles. Gill realized the creative potential for concrete
construction, which lent itself to his geometrically abstract and minimalistic buildings inspired by the
surviving missions.
8
The the simplicity of the exteriors of his work, often with expansive smooth
white planes, created the perfect backdrop to bring attention to landscape and garden features.
Irving Gill was followed by architects Lloyd Wright, and his more famous father, Frank
Lloyd Wright. In the early 1890s, both Gill and the elder Wright had worked under Louis Sullivan in
Chicago, where they learned “that architects should serve as the mediating force between people and
nature.”
9
They were also instilled with the belief that nature provided a moral benefit. Sullivan’s
obsession with the natural world certainly influenced both Wright and Gill (and in turn, the younger
Wright). This responsiveness to (and influence of) landscape can be traced to Sullivan, from which

5
Dailey, Shivers, and Dawson, LA Early Moderns, 30.
6
Dailey, Shivers, and Dawson, LA Early Moderns, 164.
7
Wendy Kaplan et al., Living in a Modern Way, 32.
8
Often painted in shades of white, his structures exhibited a reductive minimalism and absence of ornamentation.
9
Pamela Burton and Marie Botnick, Private Landscapes: Modernist Gardens in Southern California (New York: Princeton
Architectural Press, 2002), 8.

4
Wright and Gill and the American school of modernism was born. This philosophy was in harmony
with the modern movement at the turn of the century, where an interest in health, spirituality,
recreation, and fitness was on the rise.
Through these early American architectural pioneers, connections were made with another
wave of modern architects: Austrian émigrés Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra. Each of these
architects had a unique take on building and design while sharing a common approach in combining
modern forms and embracing the particular characteristics and of a site. As a whole, the group had a
mutual passion for experimentation and avant-garde ideas.
Southern California allowed these designers the potential to develop a drastically different
type of architecture as new theories were evolving in regards to living, design, and nature. (The
people of Los Angeles were famously open-minded.) With an abundance of land and scores of
people moving to the state, Southern California became a laboratory for building, housing, and
landscape design. This region with a “sleepy reputation” would soon be shaken up.

Inspiration – Cultures of the Past and Modern Art
California modernists were also drawn to influences from Asia and Latin/Meso-America.
These cultures of the past struck a chord, as Japanese prints and Pre-Columbian art served as
inspiration for architecture, interior, and landscape design. Japanese gardens in particular
emphasized the importance of an indoor/outdoor relationship with nature, as well as the use of
asymmetry in garden planning. By exploring the works of diverse building traditions, landscape
design principals were appropriated from a broad palette of styles.
In addition to these cultural influences, many modern architects and landscape architects
drew upon “the dynamic compositions of modern art, especially… constructivism, surrealism,
biomorphism, and geometrical abstraction.”
10
This led to a close integration of the visual arts with
garden and landscape design. As ideas were combined, a unique modern garden style of its own
developed; one that was inspired by cultures of the past, and artists of the present. This resulted in
gardens exhibiting geometric forms and abstract designs - a significant divergence from the
traditional, symmetrical gardens of the past.
Both in and outside the home, the desire for a reduction in “clutter” and the removal of the
unnecessary became a priority. The “streamlined” aesthetic emerged as a sort of visual shorthand for

10
Jory Johnson and Felice Frankel, Modern Landscape Architecture: Redefining the Garden (New York: Abbeville Press, 1991),
12.

5
the new age, and when combined with the local geography, had a significant effect on home and
garden design.

New Architecture Equals New Landscape Design
The perpetual sunshine of Southern California enabled a new way of living for those who
had come from cooler climates, and these transplants would do their best to take advantage of it.
Capturing the beauty of the outdoors and maximizing its access became an important tenement. The
terrain and topography of Los Angeles offered a variety of building and planting opportunities in
addition to a wealth of views and vistas. As a result, barriers between the indoors and outdoors were
eliminated, while transparent boundaries (or the illusion of such transparency) allowed the outdoors
to be incorporated as an extended room in the home.
Garden design followed innovations in building - a logical step, as most early landscape
designers trained as architects first. It made sense that new materials and building techniques could
be extended to the garden. Concrete, wood, metal, and plastic were inexpensive and reinterpreted in
new ways. These materials lent themselves to geometric shapes and planes while exhibiting a
simplicity and honesty in their nature. They also eluded to a lack of “expensive pretense.” A
transformation began in the garden, as the hardscape took on as much importance as the vegetation,
and the design was not merely a function of the plants, but of the form and arrangement of forms.
With less emphasis placed on flowers and plants, a larger focus was put on “the plan” and
relationships between parts of the garden.

Earlier Garden Styles
Prior to this, Southern California gardens had taken on a variety of transformations, with the
idea of the “outdoor room” often playing a role. Early Spanish settlers, influenced by the Catholic
missions, created enclosed patios that offered respite from the heat, as well as an element of privacy.
Frequently used by all members of the household, these patios were used for family and social
gatherings and also served as a workplace. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, as the railroad
and a rush of industrial and commercial growth led more people to sweep across the state, housing
and landscape aesthetics began to shift. "Gardens would reflect eastern American taste and style...
Flower gardens, foundation planting, bedding rows, and other forms of lineal gardens replaced the
spatial, enclosed, and functional garden of the Spanish and Mexican eras." (Footnote, French, 63)

6
The growth that continued into the the early twentieth century helped create a wealthier
subset in the region. Modernism was in its early stages, but other landscape styles were flourishing as
well. Large mansions and estate gardens offered an opportunity to display wealth and sophistication.
Mansions and estate gardens of the early 1900s were frequently situated in the hills, enjoyed long
vistas, and could be planted with vegetation from around the world. Often enormous sums of
money were allotted for these grand landscapes that mimicked the historic gardens of Europe.
Garden features included: outdoor rooms, patios, fountains, pools of water, statuary, columns, and
terrace walls that mimicked historic styles.
New technology enabling the movement of large trees, combined with nurseries housing a
wide range of plants, and access to an abundance of water, enabled patrons to recreate - or even
replicate - the more formal styles of gardens found in Italy, France, and Spain. Wealthy, "old money"
clients took the opportunity to reproduce landscapes they had viewed on trips abroad. The "newly
rich" followed suit. Movie moguls, industrial entrepreneurs and those with recently found financial
success could look to the skills of landscape designers to help articulate an air of refinement, if they
themselves had not been born into an inherited tradition of "fine taste."
11

Plan and Composition
The modern movement veered away from axial planning and rejected historic models.
Portions of the garden were not clearly circumscribed as they had been in classical sense.
12
The
garden was treated as a unique composition with geometric and curving forms flowing from one
area to the next. Walls, terraces, and pools created an interplay on flat, rectangular planes. This
resulted in three-dimensional compositions that were usually asymmetrical. The hardscape of the
garden created an additional design element to contemplate on its own or served as a backdrop for
the vegetation that was showcased amongst it. With the ornamentation left to nature, pools of water
could reflect the trees, hills, sky, and surrounding area. Dappled shade and sunlight also added a
variety of shapes and textures.
The flora chosen for the modern garden in Southern California was often sympathetic to the
Mediterranean climate, which demonstrated ecological empathy while staying within the boundaries
of regionalism. Spaces in the garden could be organized by form and, or, color. Blending ordered
geometry with the wildness of vegetation created an interesting juxtaposition. Highly textured foliage

11
David Streatfield, California Gardens: Creating a New Eden (New York: Abbeville Press, 1994), 104.
12
Johnson and Frankel, Modern Landscape Architecture, 70.

7
with unique leaf shapes and colors added another element to the landscape architects’ artistic
language. Because modern gardens often had a simplified planting plan, in theory, they needed less
maintenance. This idea correlated with the trend in an “ease of living” that would begin to transpire
inside the home. Spans of lawn, in coordination with physically built features and carefully selected
vegetation, appeared relatively easy to maintain.
One of the Earliest Modern Gardens
One property in Los Angeles served as a nexus of the modern movement in architecture and
landscape design. Aline Barnsdall’s Hollyhock House (commissioned in 1916, to Frank Lloyd
Wright) and its surrounding features, were to become a grand artistic compound in east Hollywood.
A garden on the western slope of the site was shaped by a core group of modern architects that
would go on to make an imprint in Los Angeles and further afar. Frank Lloyd Wright, his son Lloyd
Wright, Rudolf Schindler, and Richard Neutra each played a role (sometimes overlapping) in the
evolution of a garden now commonly referred to as the “Schindler Terrace.” One of the earliest
modern gardens in California, the site retains many original features designed by its architects. As a
whole, it begins to tell the story of modern landscape architecture and serves as an important piece
of California’s modern landscape narrative. This thesis will begin with a history of the site and its
patron, Aline Barnsdall. A discussion of the architects will follow, with an exploration into the
emergence of a modern garden. The thesis will close with a discussion and call for conservation.

8
CHAPTER ONE
The Beginnings – Olive Hill, Aline Barnsdall, and Frank Lloyd Wright
An oil heiress named Aline Barnsdall was one of many who participated in the migration to
the West Coast at the turn of the twentieth century. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, she had been
living in Chicago prior to her arrival in Southern California.
13
(Figure 1.1) “Her trek westward was a
prime example of the increasing transfer of cultural energy from the Illinois metropolis to the more
exotic, sun-drenched, and temperately climed City of the Angels.”
14
An eccentric and wealthy
woman, Aline Barnsdall was part of the Windy City’s theater scene and co-directed an experimental
theater group in Chicago’s Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue.
15
In this same building, her
future architect - Frank Lloyd Wright - also occupied an office.
16
(Figure 1.2)
Barnsdall had been contemplating the idea of building a theater outside of Chicago and after
a trip out west, she decided to make a go of it in Los Angeles.
17
The city appealed to her, as it did to
many, with its natural beauty, growing creative industry, and progressive ideas.
18
With a sizeable
inheritance from her father, Aline Barnsdall planned to move to Los Angeles and develop an
innovative complex dedicated to the arts - a place that would bring together actors, artists, architects,
and others from the creative fields.
19
Her new residence would become known as the Hollyhock
House, as the flower’s motif would be incorporated into the decorative program of her home – both
inside and out. In Southern California, she would find herself surrounded by kindred spirits as she
had in Chicago.

13
Many transplants came from the Midwest, as is discussed in historian Kevin Starr’s California: A History (New York:
Modern Library, 2005), 178, as well as his book Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920's (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1990). For a more in depth history on Aline Barnsdall, see The Oilman’s Daughter: A Biography of Aline
Barnsdall (Encino, CA: Carleston Pub., 1993) written by Norman and Dorothy Karasick.
14
Hines, Architecture of the Sun, 126.
15
The group was known as “The Players Producing Company.”
16
Between 1908 and 1911, Wright intermittently occupied an office in the Fine Arts Building. He also designed some of
the interior spaces within the site, including a bookstore, art gallery and artist studio. As discussed in Kathryn Smith,
"Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House, and Olive Hill, 1914-1924," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 38,
No. 1 (March, 1979), 17.
17
Melanie Louise Simo, Barnsdall Park: A New Master Plan for Frank Lloyd Wright's California Romanza (Washington, D.C.:
Spacemaker Press, 1997), 19.
18
Kevin Starr, Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 64-98,
199-234.
19
A majority of the information on Aline Barnsdall’s project with Frank Lloyd Wright was drawn from two sources
written by Kathryn Smith – her article “Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House, and Olive Hill. 1914 – 1924” Journal of
the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 38, No. 1 (March, 1979), as well as her book Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House
and Olive Hill: Buildings and Projects for Aline Barnsdall (New York: Rizzoli, 1992). Further information was garnered
through Barnsdall Park: A New Master Plan for Frank Lloyd Wright's California Romanza, written by Melanie Simo, The
California Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988) by David Gebhard, and Barnsdall
House: Frank Lloyd Wright (London: Phaidon, 1992), written by James Steele.

9

Figure 1.1: Aline Barnsdall and her daughter, undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Public
Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image 00034210 (http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034210.jpg).

Figure 1.2: Fine Arts Building, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing
Company Photograph Collection; image LC-DIG-det-4a08711
(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994014490/PP/).

10
An Ideal Setting
In 1919, Barnsdall purchased a thirty-six-acre plot of land located in the Los Angeles
neighborhood known as Los Feliz for $300,000.
20
Geographically unique, the property was a nearly
square “super block” known as “Olive Hill,” a local landmark that rose to nearly 500 feet above sea
level.
21
The previous owner had been a widow by the name of Mary Harrison Spires, whose husband
had purchased the property in the 1890s and planted an olive orchard, which was considered exotic
at the time.
22
(Figures 1.3 through 1.5)

Figure 1.3: A view of East Hollywood looking north from Olive Hill, circa 1896. Photo from the of Los Angeles Public
Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image 00071586 (http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071586.jpg).

20
Florence Lawrence, “Eminence to Be Made Rare Beauty Spot,” LA Examiner, July 6, 1919, and Smith, “Frank Lloyd
Wright, Hollyhock House,” 20.
21
Steele, Barnsdall House, 2.
22
Henry Sutherland, “Strange Saga of Barnsdall Park,” LA Times, March 15, 1970.

11

Figure 1.4: Two men at the top of Olive Hill, overlooking the Prospect Park Store and Post Office in Hollywood, circa
1905. Photo from the University of Southern California Digital Library/California Historical Society Collection 1860-
1960; filename CHS-6569 (http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/4341/rec/71).

Approximately 1,225 trees occupied the site when Barnsdall purchased the property - 94%
of which were olive trees, the rest were pepper trees and palms.
23
The olive trees had been planted in
rows varying from eighteen to twenty feet on the center and formed an orthogonal grid over most
of the property. Roads ascended through the olive trees, climbing up the natural grade of the hill,
and culminated at the top, where views spanned in every direction. Francis William Vreeland (a
noted painter, decorator, and lecturer of the time) wrote of these views once Barnsdall’s home had
been completed:
It overlooks on one side, vast areas that stretch to the rugged foothills of the Sierra Nevadas;
over the Pacific on another side; and on a third, one can see the skyscrapers of this modern
coast city - a panorama which caused Irvin Cobb to liken it to the enchanted creations of
Maxfield Parrish.
24

23
Simo, Barnsdall Park, 32.
24
F.W. Vreeland, “A New Art Centre for the Pacific Coast,” Arts & Decoration, November 1927, 64-65.

12
This location had long been considered special as it served as a site for sunrise services on
Easter (before the construction of the Hollywood Bowl).
25
The land’s natural beauty undoubtedly
sparked excitement for Barnsdall’s own artistic residence and gardens. Her property also had plans
for a theater and venues for parties, concerts, shopping, housing, and education. The project would
adopt the early California modernist philosophy of bringing the outdoors in, as Ms. Barnsdall told
The Los Angeles Examiner, “Mr. Wright believes that a California house should be half house and half
garden.”
26

Figure 1.5: Another view to the northwest from the top of Olive Hill. Photo dated 1906. Photo from the Los Angeles
Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image 00071590
(http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071590.jpg).

Perfect Timing
In Chicago, near the end of 1914, Barnsdall had been introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Shortly thereafter, she enlisted him to take on her project. She may have been inspired by his
recently completed Midway Gardens on the South Side of Chicago, an indoor/outdoor
entertainment center with year-round concerts, dancing, and performances. (Figure 1.6) The timing
of her project was fortuitous, as the preceding years had not been favorable to the architect.
27

25
It is an interesting coincidence that even before its purchase by Barnsdall, performances had been taking place at Olive
Hill.
26
Lawrence, “Eminence to Be Made Rare Beauty Spot,” Los Angeles Examiner, July 6, 1919.
27
Wright had been engulfed in a series of scandals, which included an affair with a woman by the name of Martha
“Mamah” Borthwick Cheney. She was one of seven who were later murdered by a domestic staff employee at Wright’s
studio-residence, Taliesin. These events tarnished Wright’s reputation and had a negative impact on commissions.

13

Figure 1.6: Midway Gardens, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Completed in 1914, Chicago, Illinois. Photo from the
University of Chicago Photographic Archive, [image apf2-05124], Special Collections Research Center, University of
Chicago Library (http://photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf2-05124.xml).

Aline Barnsdall’s project in Los Angeles offered Wright a fresh start and symbolized a new
beginning. The landscape of Southern California was vastly different than the prairies of the mid-
west, and Wright - among others - would find inspiration in the geography of this unique
environment. He was determined to break new ground in Southern California, and the Barnsdall
commission served as an alternative to what he called the “toothpaste flamboyance” of the worst
Spanish Colonial Revivalism.
28

Inspiration at Olive Hill
The natural beauty of Olive Hill combined with the Mediterranean climate of Southern
California may have rekindled memories for Frank Lloyd Wright of an earlier time spent in Fiesole,
Italy (1909-1910). It was here that he and his mistress escaped scandals back home and took
residence in an Italian villa. According to Wright, the couple was surrounded by the odor of great
pines and the romance of moonlight. Their villa featured reflecting pools, fountains, a high-walled
garden, and an arbor with climbing roses.
29
Perhaps some of these features inspired the designs at
Olive Hill.
Even more important is that while in Fiesole, Wright was working on the Wasmuth portfolio
- a body of work that would have an enormous impact on the next generation of European
modernists. (Figure 1.7) Wright’s eldest son, Lloyd Wright, and another draftsman from his office,
Taylor Woolley, joined the architect and assisted with the final drawings for the portfolio.

28
Streatfield, California Gardens, 104.
29
Frank Lloyd Wright, An Autobiography (New York: Horizon Press, 1977), 189, 250-251. This is also discussed in Simo’s
Barnsdall Park, 22.

14

Figure 1.7: An image from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wasmuth Portfolio: Volume One, 1910. “Plate XV. Perspective View of the
Hardy House, Racine, Wisconsin.” Photo from the Rare Books Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University
of Utah. image ark:/87278/s67p8wc9
(http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/FLWright-jp2/id/133/rec/2).

Lloyd Wright and Taylor Woolley would go on to travel together throughout Italy, Germany,
and France, using most of their time to explore gardens rather than buildings. In these excursions,
they took note of unique stairways, shadowy groves, sunny terraces, hidden gardens, and other
features that would influence their future work.
30

The Son Shines – Lloyd Wright in California
Fortuitously, Lloyd Wright was already living and working in Los Angeles during the time of
the Barnsdall commission. His father would come to rely heavily on him - a talented draftsman,
architect, and landscape architect in his own right. (Figure 1.8) Lloyd had been in Southern
California for a few years, having traveled to the West Coast in 1911 to work on the Panama-
California Exposition in San Diego, which was scheduled to open in 1915.
31

30
The life and work of Lloyd Wright is covered in Lloyd Wright, Architect; 20th Century Architecture in an Organic Exhibition
(Santa Barbara: 1971) by David Gebhard et al., as well as Lloyd Wright: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (New York:
Harry N. Abrams, 1998) by Lloyd Wright, Alan Wientraub and Thomas S. Hines.
31
During the entire period of the commission on Olive Hill, Frank Lloyd Wright was tied up with a second, lucrative
project - The Imperial Hotel - in Tokyo, Japan. This meant that he was out of the country for prolonged periods of time,
leaving supervision of the Barnsdall project to his son, and later, Rudolf Schindler.

15

Figure 1.8: Exterior view of Lloyd Wright’s Taggart Residence, Los Feliz. Built in 1922. Photo from the Los Angeles
Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image00034172 (http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034172.jpg).

Prior to his arrival in California, Lloyd had taken classes at the Harvard Botanical Gardens
and Arnold Arboretum and worked as a draftsman for the Olmsteds in Brookline, Massachusetts.
He joined the Olmsteds in California when they were hired to design the landscape plan for the
Panama-California Exposition in conjunction with architect Irving Gill. Lloyd admired the work of
Gill and appreciated that the architect embodied many of the same ideas as his father. Gill’s designs
were elegantly simple and geometric and made reference to the region’s historic adobe missions.
(Figure 1.9) His work was some of the earliest modern architecture in California.
32

32
Early on, Lloyd Wright was not aware that both his father and Irving Gill had been fellow apprentices in Louis
Sullivan’s Chicago office. Gebhard, Lloyd Wright: Architect, 18.

16

Figure 1.9: Irving Gill’s Nelson Barker Residence, San Diego, 1910. Photo from the San Diego History Center/The
Journal of San Diego History, October 1979.
(http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/1979/october/interiors/).

The Olmsteds had assigned horticulturist and landscape architect Paul Thiene to join Lloyd
in establishing the nursery for the Exposition. The two worked closely to develop a knowledge of
the wide variety of plants that could successfully grow in Southern California.
33
When plans for the
Exposition changed and civic leaders hired architect Bertram Goodhue in lieu of Irving Gill, the
Olmsteds resigned. Paul Thiene stayed on as “consulting landscape architect,” continuing to oversee
the plantings. Shortly thereafter, Lloyd began working in Gill’s San Diego office as a draftsman and
landscape architect. The two would go on to work together in Los Angeles.
34

A Joint Effort
Lloyd’s expertise in landscape design and California vegetation made him a valuable asset to
his father. The two men would collaborate on many projects, with Lloyd taking on much of the
responsibility for the landscape designs. The Barnsdall project was one such instance in which
Lloyd’s influence was felt, especially since his father had turned his attention towards another
project, the high-profile Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. With Wright out of the country nearly full-
time between 1917 and 1921, Lloyd was left in charge as superintendent of Olive Hill in 1919.
35
His
role was to supervise the grading of the site and construction of the foundations as well as laying out

33
Lloyd Wright and Paul Thiene went on to become business partners for one year and collaborated with one another
through the early 1920s. Winifred Dobyns California Gardens, (New York: The MacMillen Company, 1931), 229, and
Gebhard, Lloyd Wright: Architect, 19.
34
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 14.
35
Smith, Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House and Olive Hill, 83.

17
the gardens and pools for the main residence. The dynamic at Aline Barnsdall’s Olive Hill
commission would shift however in 1920, as Frank Lloyd Wright introduced a third architect to the
project. Wright summoned Rudolf Schindler, an apprentice from his Taliesin studio, to travel to Los
Angeles and supervise construction.
36

Rudolf Schindler
Rudolf Schindler was a Viennese born architect, just three years younger than Lloyd
Wright.
37
At the age of nineteen, he enrolled at the Technische Hochschule (Imperial Technical
Institute) to train as an engineer, where he studied with Adolf Loos. Simultaneously, he took classes
at the Vienna Academy of Arts where Otto Wagner was the director. Schindler was also a student of
painting, influenced by Cézanne, the Cubists, and Futurists. The concept of space in their work
intrigued him, as did the idea of a multiple viewpoint.
38
As the secessionist movement grew in
Austria, Schindler witnessed a celebration of modernity that focused on bringing purer geometric
forms to architecture.
His interest in modern forms and shapes was strengthened by the work of Frank Lloyd
Wright – particularly, the Wasmuth portfolio. Schindler was the first European architect to view the
portfolio abroad and then emigrate to the United States. (He was also the first in a group of
European architects to approach Frank Lloyd Wright for work.) His timely departure for America
coincided with the outbreak of World War I, which meant he was able to avoid service.
In 1914, Schindler graduated and made his way to the United States, where he was hired as a
draftsman in Chicago.
39
The following summer he took a tour of the west, which included stops in
Arizona and New Mexico. (Figure 1.10) The terrain and color palette of these regions resonated
with him, as the geography was significantly different than what he had experienced on the East
Coast and in the Midwest.
40
Schindler’s trip also included stops in San Francisco for the Panama-

36
A majority of the information on Rudolf Schindler was taken from the following resources: R.M. Schindler (London:
Phaidon, 2001) by Judith Sheine, Schindler House (Santa Monica: Hennessey + Ingalls, 2010) by Kathryn Smith, and R.M.
Schindler: Composition and Construction (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993) by Judith Sheine, and Lionel March. Further
information can be found in two books by Esther McCoy: Five California Architects (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975)
and Vienna to Los Angeles: Two Journeys: Letters between R. M. Schindler and Richard Neutra: Letters of Louis Sullivan to R. M.
Schindler (Santa Monica, California: Arts + Architecture Press, 1979).
37
Born in 1887.
38
Esther McCoy, Five California Architects, 152.
39
Hired by the firm of Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichert. McCoy, Five California Architects, 154.
40
Smith, Schindler House, 16.

18
Pacific Exposition, as well as San Diego to visit the Panama-California Exposition. While in San
Diego, he had the opportunity to view some of Irving Gill’s Southern California projects.

Figure 1.10: A photograph taken by Rudolf Schindler on a trip to Taos Pueblo, October 1915. Image courtesy of the R.
M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California
Santa Barbara.

Schindler’s primary goal was to work with Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom he had applied
several times – to no avail. This was in large part because Wright could not afford another
draftsman. Schindler was finally granted a position when he offered his services for free.
41
Wright
had moved his office from Chicago to Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Schindler joined a group of
assistants at Taliesin that would help prepare drawings for a number of projects while Wright was
away in Japan. Among these projects was the commission for Ms. Barnsdall’s property.
In 1920, Schindler and his wife Pauline Gibling traveled to Los Angeles at Wright’s request.
Schindler would oversee construction of the Barnsdall House in the architect’s absence. Why he was
called to take over is still not entirely clear. What is known is that the development on Olive Hill
depended heavily on Lloyd Wright and Schindler, as the two men were pivotal in executing the elder
architect’s vision and plans, using their own expertise to navigate obstacles as they presented
themselves.

41
Smith, Schindler House, 154.

19
1920 – Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler and Irving Gill
It is hard to know if Lloyd Wright felt any resentment when his father sent Rudolf Schindler
to Los Angeles in 1920 to oversee construction of Aline Barnsdall’s project. Lloyd had been in
southern California for nearly ten years, first working with Irving Gill, followed by a short
partnership with Paul Theine, and then going out on his own in 1916.
42
Lloyd Wright found a
kindred spirit in Gill, and claimed that he “looked after me like a son.”
43
This mutual connection
may have been due in part to the joint history that Gill and the elder Wright shared dating back to
their earlier days in Louis Sullivan’s office in Chicago.
Gill’s experience with Louis Sullivan taught him the value of simplicity. When he arrived in
Southern California in 1893, he began to invent his own architectural style in relative isolation from
the rest of the world. The results were often surprisingly similar to those of Adolf Loos. Gill went
on to design buildings in San Diego and Los Angeles that “set the stage for a later, more widely
celebrated generation of modernists who would continue his experiments with new forms and
construction techniques.”
44
Gill was also an early believer in progressive movement matters such as
gender and social equality, and concerns with health and the home environment.
When Lloyd Wright joined Gill’s San Diego office in 1912, as a draftsman and landscape
architect, he was given a wide range of work, including responsibility for a number of Gill’s
renderings. One example that illustrates Lloyd Wright’s artistic talents is an “Unbuilt Project for
Casas Grandes” (1912-1915), for client Homer Laughlin Jr. Designed as multiple-unit housing
project, it depicts six large groups of geometric concrete structures set into a terraced Hollywood
hillside. Trees, shrubbery and garden walls accent the site. In many ways, it is a kindred spirit to the
the plan that Lloyd Wright and his father designed for Aline Barnsdall.
When Rudolf Schindler arrived in California, Lloyd stayed on at the Barnsdall project, taking
charge of landscaping of the site. For Lloyd, working for his father could be difficult. Often Frank
Lloyd Wright was out of the country and would not (or could not) pay salaries and various office
expenses on time. Lloyd would be the one to hear about it.
45
Surely he also felt the shadow of his
father in his daily life - on a personal and business level. Regardless of the strain however, the work

42
With Theine, Lloyd Wright designed several landscapes, including a park at the La Brea Tar Pits. Wright, Weintraub,
and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 15.
43
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 15.
44
Thomas Hines, Irving Gill and the Architecture of Reform (New York: Monacelli Press, Inc., 2000), second cover.
45
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 17.

20
he did while immersed in the Barnsdall project “would positively affect his own emerging aesthetic
of the 1920s.”
46

Schindler on the other hand was able to experience the Southern California region with the
freedom and spirit of re-imagination that only an émigré can have. Although Schindler was working
for Wright, he was not bound to a famous father or engrained architectural institutions. Having
avoided the outbreak of war (and the factors that are associated with such events) Schindler was
allowed the opportunity to think, grow, and build in his own way – a trajectory that was very similar
to that of Irving Gill.

In the second half of 1920, Frank Lloyd Wright made his way back to California for a
period time. The senior Wright shared an office with his son in the Homer Laughlin Building in
downtown Los Angeles. Soon enough, he would depart again. Aline Barnsdall had a reputation for
frequently changing her mind, and the plans for Olive Hill were no exception. She had a growing
frustration with the project – as well as her architect’s absences – and things came to a head in 1921,
when she fired Wright. (Ironically enough, this would not be the end of their partnership.) Barnsdall
retained Schindler to complete unfinished work at the Hollyhock House, and during this time
Schindler would begin designing his own home-studio. He created a unique, communal living space
to be shared with he, his wife, and a couple by the name of Clyde and Marian Chace.

The Schindler House on Kings Road
Schindler’s studio-residence (1921-1922) is a testament to the freedom he found in
California and his personal belief in “space architecture” – the arrangement of space forms in
meaningful shapes and relations.
47
He had developed these ideas in part through his work with
Frank Lloyd Wright. His unconventional home in West Hollywood would become a nexus for
avant-garde artists and progressive thinkers.
48

Pauline Schindler and Marian Chace were forward-thinking women who had known each
other at Smith College and had worked together in Boston and Chicago. The Chaces were also

46
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 22. Lloyd Wright’s modernist style went in the direction of Art Deco,
with his own brand of expressionism. This included “canted wall surfaces, oblique spatial volumes, and zigzag, chevron-
shaped details.” His interest in other cultures was expressed in modern materials, primarily concrete.
47
Sheine and March, R.M. Schindler, 45.
48
Schindler’s unique home-studio is discussed in Kathryn Smith’s Schindler House and Schindler, Kings Road, and Southern
California Modernism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012) by Robert Sweeney and Judith Sheine.

21
strong admirers of Irving Gill, and that was in part what had drawn them to California. Clyde Chace
became Gill’s contractor and had worked with him on the construction of his Horatio West Court
project (1919). The Chaces even lived for a short time with Irving Gill in Santa Monica.
49
Gill
allowed Schindler to borrow or purchase his equipment when he began building his own house.
50

(Figure 1.11)
In these early years of the the 1920s, Kings Road must have looked like a new frontier for
architecture. In addition to Rudolf Schindler’s residence, which was surrounded by bean fields,
Irving Gill’s forward-thinking Dodge House (1914-1916) was located just up the street, one block to
the north. Certainly the Dodge House and its gardens provided inspiration. The creative energy of
West Hollywood was bubbling and the paths of the modernists in Los Angeles crossed at many
levels. The salon atmosphere that was to come at the Schindler’s home was akin to the artistic circles
he had been a part of back in Vienna – only now they had a definitively Californian slant.

Figure 1.11: A view of Rudolf Schindler’s home from Kings Road, 1924. Courtesy of gta archives/ETH Zürich (Holding
Werner M. Moser).
No Ill Will
If there was any ill-will between Rudolf Schindler and Lloyd Wright in regards to the events
at Olive Hill (or otherwise), their relationship appeared essentially amicable - at least according to

49
Hines, Irving Gill and the Architecture of Reform. 231.
50
Sweeney and Sheine, Schindler, Kings Road, and Southern California Modernism, 14.

22
letters written by Pauline Schindler. Lloyd Wright was welcomed into the nexus of artistic and
political people that visited the Schindler’s home on a regular basis:
“…And last night Lloyd Wright brought over his cello, - and played with me till another
midnight… We had really lovely music together.” spg to unknown, 22 may 1922; and spg to
“Mother ‘n Father ‘n Dorothy.” 16 July 1922.
51

Again Lloyd Wright is mentioned in a letter discussing a Christmas holiday gathering:

“The house was really quite lovely in the evening, -despite lack of the usual comforts of
chairs and things… with masses of branches in the strategic spots, and bowls of great red
roses… and the fireplaces inviting. We sang the old old [sic] English carols, and the German
ones… and after the rest were gone, Lloyd Wright brought forth his ‘cello, and we sang
again, he giving us the melody in rich tone … while Edith, and Kimmie, and I sang …” spg
to unknown, n.d. [28 December 1922]
52

Six years later, in the Architectural Record, Pauline Schindler continued her praises of Lloyd
and wrote glowingly of his Samuel-Novarro House (1928), claiming his buildings are “alive.”
53
Lloyd
himself may have taken inspiration from the Schindler’s home when designing his own home studio
(1927), also in West Hollywood. The living room and patio were designed as a single space. Sliding
partitions opened to the uncovered patio and the landscape design literally brought the outdoors in,
while the hearth took on the essence of a bonfire.
54

Frank Lloyd Wright Returns
The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was completed in 1922, and Wright made his way back to Los
Angeles. Aline Barnsdall’s home was nearly finished, with her focus already shifting towards her
“next project.”
55
(Figure 1.12) She explained that she was not satisfied with her new house and later
confided in a letter to Wright that, “My heart was not in it.”
56
As a result, the larger plans to develop
Olive Hill with a theatre, shops, cafés, and housing came to a halt.
In 1923, Barnsdall chose to donate a portion of her thirty-six-acre site to the City of Los
Angeles, to be used as a public library and park. This first offer was rejected by the City. In an
attempt to improve the property, Barnsdall displayed her ever changing disposition, and re-hired

51
Elizabeth Smith and Michael Darling, The Architecture of R.M. Schindler (Los Angeles: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001), 92.
52
Smith and Darling, The Architecture of R.M. Schindler, 97.
53
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 23.
54
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright, 25.
55
One of her many projects included a second (unbuilt) commission by Frank Lloyd Wright. A smaller house in Beverly
Hills, with designs similar to his Ennis House in Hollywood.
56
Letter written to Wright, referenced in: Smith, Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House and Olive Hill, 161.

23
Frank Lloyd Wright. She now wished for him to design a community playhouse, children’s school,
and memorial to her late father. It would be located on the western slope of Olive Hill, and Wright
accepted the offer.
57

Figure 1.12: Hollyhock House, undated. Photo from USC Libraries Special Collection/California Historical Society
Collection, 1860-1960; image 44368
(http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/4217/rec/14).

57
“Donor of Olive Hill,” Holly Leaves Vol. 12, No. 51 (December 21, 1923), 50, and Archiplan Urban Design
Collaborative “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report” (Unpublished Report for the Los Angeles
Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, California, 1992), 24.

24
CHAPTER TWO
Beyond the Hollyhock House
While Schindler had been working on his home-studio in West Hollywood, Lloyd Wright
had been exploring concrete-block construction. One such project was a home for Henry Bollman –
a contractor who would go on to construct several houses for Lloyd Wright in the 1920s. With his
father’s return to Los Angeles from Tokyo in 1922, Lloyd assisted the elder Wright with a proposal
for a residential development known as “Doheny Ranch Resort” (1922-1923). This project shared
many striking similarities with the “Casas Grandes” plan Lloyd had rendered for Irving Gill nearly
ten years prior. It was another large concrete housing community set into a steeply terraced hillside
featuring walled gardens. Lloyd may have been remembering the earlier Gill project when working
on this one with his father. “Coincidentally,” the Wrights’ were residing in an office in the Homer
Laughlin Building (Irving Gill’s patron for the Casas Grandes project) before moving to a different
office in West Hollywood. Yet another reminder of the overlapping of projects, architects, homes
and people of the time.
Less than a mile away from the Schindler’s home, on the corner of Harper Avenue and
Fountain, Frank Lloyd Wright and his son opened a new office and continued to work for
artistically-minded clients.
58
The two men intended to design “foothill properties between Hollywood
and the sea.”
59
They were experimenting with concrete and other building techniques while
designing homes and landscapes for the open terrain and agreeable climate of California.
The Wrights developed an innovative system of construction with concrete blocks. In the
evenings of February and March of 1923, Rudolf Schindler would walk a few block from his home
to the Wrights’ studio, to assist the architects with drawings for the Millard House, the first of their
“textile block homes.”
60
(Figure 2.1) Schindler himself had experience in building with concrete,
albeit a different method, with his own home-studio on Kings Road. The Wrights completed work
on another textile block home for Dr. John Storer, a homeopathic physician (1923), and the

58
Charles Lockwood, "Searching Out Wright’s Imprint in Los Angeles.” New York Times, December 2, 1984.
59
“Noted Architect Locates Here,” Holly Leaves 12, no. 16 (April 20, 1923) 34.
60
Alice Millard was a rare book dealer in Los Angeles. A few years later, in 1926, Lloyd Wright would design an
additional studio and guesthouse on the property. In addition, Lloyd Wright expressed that it was “his use of steel in the
Henry Bollman house (Hollywood, 1922) which inspired his father to develop the knit block system…” Wright,
Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright Architect, 19. For more on the textile block homes and technology, see: In the Nature of
Materials, 1887-1941: The Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973) by Henry-Russell Hitchcock,
Jeffrey Chusid’s Saving Wright: The Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity (New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., 2011), Romanza: The California Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988) by
David Gebhard, Frank Lloyd Wright at a Glance: Californian Textile Block (London: PRC Publishing Ltd, 2002) by Abby
Moor, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Autobiography.

25
following year they would build two more - the Charles and Mabel Ennis House and the Samuel and
Harriet Freeman House (1924).

Figure 2.1: The Millard Residence, Pasadena, California. Also known as "La Miniatura," built in 1923. Photo taken in
1939, from the Los Angeles Public Library/Works Progress Administration Collection; image 00065358
(http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics31/00065358.jpg).

It was during these projects that Aline Barnsdall had her change of heart, and re-hired Frank
Lloyd Wright to design a new project for Olive Hill. Barnsdall planned to open a school with Leah
Lovell, a friend of Pauline Schindler. (Both Mrs. Lovell and Mrs. Schindler had previously run a
kindergarten together.
61
) Mrs. Lovell was also the sister of Harriet Freeman, the previously
mentioned client of Frank Lloyd Wright. The crossing of paths did not end there, as the Lovells
would become loyal patrons of Rudolf Schindler and he would design three vacation properties for
the family in Southern California– a cabin in the mountains at Wrightwood (1924), a ranch in
Fallbrook (1924), and the monumental Lovell Beach House (1922 - 1926), in Newport Beach.
Schindler would also later remodel interior portions of the Freeman house, originally built by Frank
Lloyd Wright.
Ms. Barnsdall’s new project would serve as an indoor/outdoor space, with an experimental
elementary school that placed value in the dramatic arts.
62
It was to be located on the western slope

61
Both Kathryn Smith (Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock and Olive Hill) and Esther McCoy (Vienna to Los Angeles: Two
Journeys) name Leah Lovell as director of the Olive Hill School. Thomas Hines (Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern
Architecture) also writes that Mrs. Lovell ran another Kindergarten with Pauline Gibling Schindler.
62
Some of Aline Barnsdall’s guiding principles for the school are discussed in Kathryn Smith’s Frank Lloyd Wright,
Hollyhock House and Olive Hill, Esther McCoy’s Vienna to Los Angeles: Two Journeys, as well as Richard Neutra and the Search for
Modern Architecture: A Biography and History (Portland: Ringgold Inc, 2006) by Thomas Hines.

26
of her property. (Figures 2.2 and 2.3) The project had three distinct elements: a community
playhouse, a school, and a memorial to her father. Written accounts, plans, and drawings of the site
often interchange titles for the project, and for the purpose of this thesis, the entire site will
collectively be referred to as the “Community Playhouse, School, and Memorial,” or CPSM. While
planning the project, Frank Lloyd Wright enjoyed a brief stay in the guest quarters known as
“Residence B,” which were adjacent to the site.

Figure 2.2: Undated aerial view of Aline Barnsdall’s property. The arrow indicates the future site of the CPSM, which
will later become the Schindler Terrace. Photo from of the Los Angeles Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank
Collection; image 00034204
(http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034204.jpg).

27

Figure 2.3: A linen drawing “reworked” over the years shows the site plan of the CPSM. From the collection of the City
of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs. (Olive Hill Block Plan, August 4, 1920.)

In 1923, the Wrights created a plan for the CPSM. (Figures 2.4 and 2.5) The design signified
a segue between the Mediterranean gardens popular at the turn of the twentieth century, and the
modern landscape architecture that was evolving in Southern California. Together the Wrights
embraced the tenents of modernism, one of which included a fluidity between indoor and outdoor
space. They also looked at hillside building and planning, and utilized the technique of the
“borrowed view” (popular in many garden traditions of the past).

28

Figure 2.4: CPSM plan from July 28, 1923. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation
and Parks and Cultural Affairs. (Community Playhouse, the Little Dipper, plot plan, July 28, 1923.)

Figure 2.5: Another CPSM plan, 1923. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and
Parks and Cultural Affairs. (Plan for Barnsdall Memorial Park, 1923)

The north section of the CPSM was symmetrical with multiple terraces and rectangular
features. Opposite this, to the south, the school and playhouse appeared more abstract and modern
with rounded walls adjacent to unique geometric forms. The Wrights may have been inspired by the
“outdoor rooms” in the gardens they had seen in Europe, or even an ancient Roman amphitheater

29
in the town of Fiesole. This amphitheater composed of stone blocks and built into the hillside was
only a short walk from Frank Lloyd Wright’s residence during his time in Italy. (Figure 2.6) In some
ways, there are similarities between the amphitheater and the tiered “circular bowl” planned for Ms.
Barnsdall’s school.)

Figure 2.6: The Roman amphitheater in Fiesole, Italy. Photo by author, May 2015.

The “Little Dipper”
The plans for the proposed schoolroom and playhouse took on the nickname “The Little
Dipper,” as the structure consisted of of “three primary elements: an irregular square, a tail-like
extension, and a circular bowl.”
63
In this, the plan resembled the shape of the constellation. (Figures
2.7 and 2.8) In the years that followed, some modern landscape designers would follow a similar
thread, and use the work of abstract painters as inspiration. They would begin to incorporate large-
scale compositions and patterns in their landscape plans as well.

63
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,” 21.

30

Figure 2.7: Floor plan of the school and playhouse. Image Copyright 2017 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale,
Arizona. All rights reserved. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art|Avery
Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York).

Figure 2.8: The school and playhouse portion of the CPSM, August 1923. From the collection of the City of Los
Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs. (Community Playhouse Little Dipper, plan, August
1923.)

31
The plan for the CPSM called for precast concrete blocks, which coincided with the Wrights’
textile block homes. Concrete lent itself to geometric shapes and Frank Lloyd Wright imagined the
blocks to be an economical, accessible, new building material. This interest in “low cost,”
untraditional construction materials that could be produced en mass was another theme explored by
the early modern architects and landscape architects, and would flourish in the years that followed.
The CPSM plan called for five or six different versions of patterned textile blocks, each
sixteen inches square and three and a half inches thick.
64
The earth toned, rough textured blocks
would create a grid-like geometric pattern, giving the illusion of the structure growing out of the
surrounding landscape. In this, the building resembled a cubist composition. (Figure 2.9 through
2.12) The concrete blocks were also reminiscent of the Froebel building blocks that both the elder
and younger Wright had played with as children. However, for reasons unknown, when it came time
to execute the project, the concrete blocks were cast smoothly, without additional detail.

Figure 2.9: Perspective of the CPSM, 1923. Image Copyright 2017 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona.
All rights reserved. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art|Avery Architectural &
Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York) (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/flw/images/flw0024.jpg).
(Perspective with Pool, The Community Playhouse - The Little Dipper, Olive Hill, 1923.)

64
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,” 34.

32

Figure 2.10: A perspective of the western façade of the CPSM, 1923. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles,
Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.

Figure 2.11: CPSM elevation, August 1923. Image Copyright 2017 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona.
All rights reserved. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art|Avery Architectural &
Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). (Community Playhouse, the Little Dipper, elevation, August 1923.)

33

Figure 2.12: CPSM, elevation 1923. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and
Parks and Cultural Affairs. (Barnsdall Memorial Park, elevation 1923.)

Figure 2.13: CPSM elevation and example of textile block, August 1923. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles,
Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs. (Community Playhouse, the Little Dipper, elevation, August
1923.)

34
The CPSM schoolroom included a large area for instruction and secondary spaces. The
northwest corner was to include a stage and fireplace, and in the opposite direction, to the southeast,
the room transitioned to an indoor-outdoor space that opened out to the “bowl.” This bowl was to
be used as an outdoor play area or seating for open-air performances. The shade of the trees would
create a leafy outdoor ceiling. The “bowl” feature reveals a glimpse into the direction Wright’s work
was heading, as “the circle and spiral would play an increasingly important role” in his subsequent
work.”
65
A few months later, when he would return to his Taliesin studio, he would revisit the
circle/spiral in his “Automobile Observatory for Sugarloaf Mountain, 1924.” (His newest
apprentice, Richard Neutra, would assist with drawings and design studies for the project.)
The floor of the bowl was to be covered in sand or sod, surrounded by three treads of
stepped seating cast in concrete. Two existing trees (a pepper and an olive) were incorporated into
the seating area. A hexagonal feature referred to as a “sand table” linked the indoor schoolroom to
the bowl area outside. This “table” was composed of a small pool of water and sand, and was most
likely to serve as an area for play. The surrounding hillside was to be densely planted with vines
cascading off the structure.
66

On the sloping lawn to the north of the school, Wright had plans for a memorial to Aline’s
father, Theodore Barnsdall, composed of three major terraces. The first, a paved upper portion;
second, a terrace just below (with a pergola and bas-relief memorial plaque); and finally, stairs
leading to a lower terrace with a lawn.
67
The most western wall of the bottom terrace was a
continuation of the CPSM school wall, and it contained two flower boxes that framed the site. Six
existing olive trees would be incorporated into this lower terrace with a series of five L-shaped
retaining walls cascading down the slope to the north. Vines would be planted in these retaining
walls and in the most northeastern portion of the site, a fountain would be enclosed in a structure.
Aside from incorporating existing trees, the plan did not call for a large number of plantings
within the site. There was however, a call for dense planting around the outer perimeter of the
playhouse. Lloyd Wright used his familiarity and understanding of non-native plants adaptable to the
southern California climate (such as olive, pepper, and acacia trees). He may have also been
channeling his earlier work with Paul Thiene and Irving Gill, which included the use of walls,

65
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 73.
66
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,” 36 – 39, 73.
67
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,” 52.

35
pergolas and pools – often in combination with “a thick backdrop of trees and low shrubs which
appear natural and informal.”
68

Building Comes to a Halt
Frank Lloyd Wright’s stay in Residence B would be short lived, as almost as soon as work
began at the CPSM, it was ordered to stop. Just three weeks into construction, on November 22,
1923, things came to a halt as building inspectors required changes be made to the design.
69
The site
had already been excavated and foundations had begun to be set. At this point 7,508 blocks had
been cast – 226 of which had been laid. Frustrated by the rising costs of her project, Aline Barnsdall
refused to pay the additional money to make changes to the plan.
70
This combination of events and
another round of irreconcilable differences, led her to fire Wright once again. Barnsdall quickly
abandoned the idea of a school, but still needed to address a treatment for the recently excavated
site. Frank Lloyd Wright departed Olive Hill for the Beverly Hills Hotel, and Aline Barnsdall began
to discuss converting the area into a garden feature. Once again she turned to Rudolf Schindler,
requesting that he convert the site into a public park.
71

Was Wright thrilled that Ms. Barnsdall enlisted his protégé to redesign the Little Dipper site?
Probably not. A tinge of resentment can be heard when he touches on the subject in his
Autobiography:
And then the Little Dipper, kindergarten for Aline Barnsdall, which she destroyed half way
through. And she employed my superintendent of Hollyhock House, himself - by the way,
he was all ready - to turn it into a garden terrace. [sic]
72

Change in the Plan
Schindler agreed to take over the project (as he had before with unfinished work at the
Hollyhock House) and came up with a new plan for the site. Soon he would rely on the assistance of
a fellow classmate, Richard Neutra, who had recently arrived in the United States. There was a new
vacancy at the Schindler home, and soon the Neutras would fill this space. The Chace family had

68
Gebhard and Von Breton, Lloyd Wright: Architect, 21.
69
It is likely that Wright was not in Los Angeles when the building inspectors demanded work be stopped. Instead, he
had probably departed for his Taliesin studio. In addition, according to information in the “Theodore Barnsdall
Memorial Historic Structures Report,” The Department of Building and Safety is unable to account for records from
this period, so there is not a record of the specific changes the building inspectors required.
70
This information comes from a lawsuit that the builder A.C. Parlee filed against Aline Barnsdall. It states that
Barnsdall refused to continue with the building contract. “A.C. Parlee, Plaintiff vs. Aline Barnsdall, Defendant,”
Complaint on Contract, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, 11 April 1924.
71
“Park Donor Explains,” Holly Leaves, vol. 12, no. 17 (May 2 1924), 29.
72
Wright, Autobiography, 252.

36
decided to move out in 1923. Perhaps an extra head count played a role in the decision, as both the
Schindler and Chace families had borne children within the year. Or perhaps the unpredictable
temperament and erratic personality of Pauline’s Schindler may have been a factor.
73
Whatever the
reason, this left a vacancy at the Schindler home and led to a frequently changing lineup of tenants
from the artistic community.

73
Pauline Schindler’s temperament is discussed many times in both Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern
Architecture, and Sheine, RM Schindler.

37
CHAPTER THREE
A Modern Garden Emerges
Like Rudolf Schindler, Richard Neutra also came from Vienna. As a youth, he had been
surrounded by creative people that helped to serve as a foundation for his future as an architect.
74

Richard Neutra met Schindler (five years his senior) in Vienna at the Technische Hochschule
(University of Technology). He studied with Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, and also shared
Schindler’s fascination with America, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Wasmuth portfolio. When
Rudolf Schindler left for the United States in 1914, Neutra planned on following him the next year;
however, war broke out in Europe and his plans were delayed much longer than he anticipated.
After serving time in the military, Richard Neutra obtained a visa to Switzerland in 1919,
where he took on a job at a nursery and landscaping firm run by Otto Froebel. Here he developed
an interest in botany, landscape design, and site planning under the guidance of Gustav Ammann.
Neutra claimed that “It was Gustav Ammann whom I have to thank for my appreciation that the
origin of architecture is always closely connected to nature and the surrounding landscape.”
75

Following his work with Ammann, Neutra went to work at the Berlin office of Erich
Mendelsohn, an architect whose designs were inspired by Expressionist art. Mendelsohn’s true love
of plants, nature, and the physical landscape, was integral to his architecture. He believed in
“clothing” buildings in flowers and foliage. One of Neutra’s earliest assignments with Mendelsohn
was to assist in the landscaping of the newly built Einstein Tower in Potsdam. (Figure 3.1)
Mendelsohn’s experimentation with reinforced concrete - a new building material at the time -
presented Neutra with an innovative and alternative option in architectural design. The two would
go on to collaborate on a number of projects, although Neutra always focused on his primary goal,
which was to reach America.

74
Neutra’s sister had married art historian Arpad Weixlgartner, and through the couple he was exposed to the great art
collections of Vienna. He also visited the studios of artists such as Gustav Klimt and was friends with Ernst Freud (son
of Sigmund), whose house he visited regularly. His contact with the Freud family stimulated his interest in psychology
and ideas about how the environment effects human development. This is discussed in Volker Welter’s Ernst L. Freud,
Architect: The Case of the Modern Bourgeois Home (New York: Berghahn Books, 2012). For more on Richard Neutra, see two
books by Thomas Hines: Architecture of the Sun: Los Angeles Modernism, 1900-1970, and Richard Neutra and the Search for
Modern Architecture: A Biography and History. In addition, see Barbara Lamprecht’s Richard Neutra: Complete Works (Köln;
New York: Taschen, 2000), and Richard Neutra (New York: G. Braziller) by Esther McCoy.
75
GTA Verlag, ETH Zürich, http://neutra.vs.de/neutracollection/en/.

38

Figure 3.1: Einstein Tower, Potsdam, Germany. Built in 1921. Photo taken by author, May 2015.

In 1923, the same year that Aline Barnsdall attempted to build a school on her Olive Hill
property, Richard Neutra was able to make his way to the United States. He arrived in the New
York at the age of thirty-one. Although a lot seemed to be happening on the west coast, Schindler
encouraged him to stay back east if he could obtain work for the time being. Neutra was anxious to
meet and hopefully work for Wright, but that would have to wait. He secured work in New York
and was able to explore the city and take in American culture. Many things fascinated and excited
him, but he did notice and despaired the “American wastefulness and what he perceived to be a
throwaway syndrome with many excellent new buildings and very many neglected ones. The same
lack of care applied to footwear, automobiles, street paving…”
76
After having served and lived
through a war in Europe, this wastefulness struck a chord with him.
One independent project he worked on while in New York was for a new library of Jewish
culture in Jerusalem. The design owed much to Mendelson’s influence and also showed signs of
Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, which Neutra had viewed in the Wasmuth portfolio. Neutra created a

76
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 64.

39
striking building with a low, horizontal entrance and upward rising terraces. Although the project
was ultimately passed over for a more traditional design, the bad news was offset by the
announcement that his son had been born.
Heading West
In the early months of 1924, Richard Neutra was ready to leave New York and began his
journey west. He arrived in Chicago both “fascinated and appalled.”
77
The crime and pollution
surprised him, although he did see the city’s potential. He landed work for a year with Holabird and
Roche, one of the firms that pioneered the development of the skyscraper. While in Chicago he
made a point of visiting all of Wright’s buildings, which he found to be as momentous as he had
expected. He was, however, surprised by the indifference that many residents seemed to express
about living in a Wright home. He took note of this ambivalence, and in the future would gauge his
client’s reactions to his own work.
Through communication with Rudolf Schindler, Neutra was able to track when Frank Lloyd
Wright would be back in Chicago. While he waited, he searched out Louis Sullivan, mentor of both
Irving Gill and Frank Lloyd Wright. Sullivan was in ill health, but Neutra was able to spend a few
visits with him before he passed away. At the funeral for Sullivan (April 1924), Neutra was finally
able to meet Wright. This introduction led to an invitation, and a few months later Richard’s wife
Dione arrived from Europe and the couple headed to Wright’s Taliesin studio in Wisconsin.
78

The Neutras were in awe of Taliesin, and their surroundings. The landscape was quiet and
beautiful, and they found camaraderie with their Taliesin “family.” Neutra was immersed in drawings
and studies for Wright, which included the Automobile Observatory for Sugarloaf Mountain (1924).
This project had Mendelsohnian features that Neutra may have imparted to the scheme.
79
At the
beginning of February of 1925, with his goal of meeting and working with Wright fulfilled, the
Neutras were ready to head to California. Encouragement came from Rudolf Schindler, who offered
his help and his home.

1925 – The Neutras Arrive in California
Upon their arrival in Los Angeles, the Neutras must have been fascinated and delighted with

77
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 64.
78
Dione’s mother was able to bring the Neutra’s son to America in the fall of 1924. Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search
for Modern Architecture, 71.
79
Erich Mendelsohn actually made a visit to Taliesin while Neutra was there, and appeared to have a negative judgement
about the United States. Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 75.

40
the climate and topography of the region.
80
With a plethora of open space and varying terrain, the
possibilities were endless. There was probably also a sense of urgency on the part of Neutra in
getting his career going, especially given that Rudolf Schindler and others in Los Angeles had already
had a few years head start. The Neutras first resided in the Schindler’s guest quarters, and then
moved to the larger, unconventional apartment that had originally been occupied by the Chaces.
While at first the families dined together communally, the Neutras ended up setting up a kitchen in a
corner of their apartment.
81
Perhaps this was an early sign of some of their differences. The
Schindlers were certainly the more bohemian of the two couples, although the social life and avant-
garde circle of friends they provided were mutually enjoyed.
In their first year of living together, Neutra was appreciative of Schindler’s talents and
generosity. The two collaborated, with Neutra assisting with drafting and landscape design.
Schindler’s work was based primarily on smaller jobs for bohemian clients who were part of he and
his wife’s avant-garde circle. Neutra did the landscape design for Schindler’s How residence (1925)
as well as the Lovell Beach House in Newport Beach.
82
Through his work and social circles, the
Neutras also became friends with the Lovells, which would later prove to be another sticking point
between he and Schindler.

During Richard Neutra’s time in Chicago, Aline Barnsdall had hired Rudolf Schindler to
transform the unfinished CPSM site into a terrace garden. Schindler used the existing foot print of
Wright’s earlier design and came up with a “Sketch for a Fountain, April, 1924”. (Figure 3.2 and )
Schindler’s early sketch is the only known plan showing the site in its entirety, as most drawings by
Schindler (and Neutra) focus on the northern portion of the garden.
83
As was true of its predecessor,

80
Upon exploring Southern California, Neutra discovered the work of Irving Gill. He became an instant fan as had
Schindler and Lloyd Wright. Both Schindler and Neutra had studied with Adolf Loos in Vienna, and they acknowledged
that there were uncanny similarities between Gill’s work and that of Adolf Loos. (It was Adolf Loos who had traveled to
the U.S. and returned with a love of America its architecture. He passed this passion on to Schindler and Neutra.)
Richard Neutra included Irving Gill’s “Horatio West Court, Santa Monica, 1919” in his 1927 book Wie Baut
Amerika? (Gegenwärtige Bauarbeit. Amerikanischer Kreis. Stuttgart: J. Hoffmann, 1927). He also included Rudolf
Schindler’s Pueblo Ribera houses in La Jolla (1923), Lloyd Wright’s Oasis Hotel in Palm Springs (1922), and Frank Lloyd
Wright’s concrete block houses in Los Angeles. Ten years after the book’s publication, it is clear to see Gill’s influence in
Neutra’s own Strathmore Apartments (1937).
81
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 76.
82
In 1922 Rudolf Schindler received a commission from Dr. and Mrs. Lovell for a vacation home in Newport Beach.
(He would design a total of three homes for them.) Dr. Lovell and Schindler met through their wives. Dr. Philip Lovell,
was a naturopath who ran a weekly column in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Care of the Body.” At the time, Schindler
was the most progressive architect in Los Angeles, and he held a strong belief that architecture could foster physical and
psychological health.
83
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,” 17. The Historic Structures Report (conducted
in 1992) was a valuable resource in researching this chapter.

41
the plans and associated sketches for the new project were referred to under a variety of names.
Today, the site has become known as the Schindler Terrace.

Figure 3.2: Schindler's “Sketch for a Fountain,” 1924 From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design
Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

Figure 2.5: Duplicated here for the purpose of comparison.

42
Once Neutra joined Schindler on Kings Road, he helped to prepare drawings for the site,
which included architectural features as well as vegetation.
84
Neutra wrote in a letter to his mother-
in-law (April 1925):
I am working on a garden for a Schindler house near Griffith Park and for Miss Barnsdall on
Olive Hill. I rise at 5:00 am in order to have two hours for my own work. I like to be in bed
by 10:00 pm, which is conspicuous because Schindler’s friends usually go to bed around 2:00
am. That for sure is not for me.
85

This sentiment was yet another example of each architect’s different type of personality.

Schindler’s early sketch shows that he took “the ghost of the Wright design” and gave it new
life. We can see that Schindler shifts the pergola and terraces from the center of the site to the most
northern boundary. He uses his intuitiveness to integrate the structures into the land rather building
on top of it, a lesson he learned first-hand from his experience with Wright at Taliesin.
86
This leaves
a large expanse of lawn to separate the two asymmetrical ends of the garden. He also turns the axis
of the pergolas ninety degrees, which makes them perpendicular to the western border walls and
therefore creates small “outdoor rooms.”
In the most northwestern corner of Schindler’s sketch, we see a series of L-shapes that have
been expanded upon from the Wright design. In Frank Lloyd Wright’s original plan, these L-shapes
were terraces that would cascade down the hillside. Schindler elongated the lines of this features and
connected it to the terraces and pergola that were shifted to the northern edge of the site. Schindler’s
plan begins to look very geometric and modern, and exhibits links to a private residence he was
completing during this time for the Packard family (1924). The exterior of this residence also
displays the theme of L-shapes and intersecting planes. (Figure 3.3)

84
For reasons unknown, Richard Neutra’s name appears to be erased from at least one of their plans dated July 1925.
85
Richard and Dion Neutra, Richard Neutra, Promise & Fulfillment 1919 – 1932: Selections from the Letters & Diaries of Richard
and Dione Neutra (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986), 139.
86
This idea of “organic architecture” is also seen in Wright’s later work at Fallingwater (1935) and Taliesin West in
Arizona (1937).

43

Figure 3.3: On the left we see Schindler’s Packard Residence, 1924. The image on the right is a detail from Schindler’s
early plan for the garden. Both images are from the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art
Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.
When Neutra joined the terrace project, the two men continued to show respect for Wright’s
earlier design and incorporated several themes from the previous plan into the new garden. This
included the use of cascading terraces, pergolas, water features, and concrete block. The two
architects struck a delicate balance between the built environment and the greenery, with the terrace
garden hugging the hillside and offering a sense of privacy. The specifics are unknown as to how
much of this new design was based on existing construction, as some features had already been set
in place when Schindler took over. It seems however, that in the southern portion of the garden,
Schindler and Neutra may have been “locked in” to the existing footprint of Wright’s CPSM, as a
retaining wall and a circular bowl feature remained that were strikingly reminiscent of Wright’s plan.

Because Neutra needed to supplement his income in his early days in Los Angeles, he had
taken on work from other architectural offices. One such employer was Gordon Kaufmann, whom
Neutra assisted in the Mediterranean Revival residence of Isidor Eisner.
87
Neutra “did working
drawings for elevations and floor plans and may have influenced certain design concepts – especially

87
Kaufmann is known for designing the Scripps College Campus (1926), the Greystone Mansion (1928), and the LA
Times Building (1931-35).

44
the walls, steps, terraces, and asymmetrically fenestrated elevations for the east façade.”
88
This
strikingly similar list of design features, as well as the Italian influences may have played into the
work that Neutra contributed to the Schindler Terrace.
Neutra may have also taken cues from a personal project he had been working on for some
years called “Rush City Reformed.” Since his time in Berlin, Neutra had continued to re-work a
series of plans based on the idea of a utopian cityscape, with all facets of life interconnected. Transit
systems, housing for families, shopping, school buildings, factories, and parks were just some of the
ideas he explored as he tried to solve the “real problems of architecture and urban design.”
89
In the
smaller scale terrace garden, perhaps he began exploring the idea of an aspirational landscape for this
“new world” in California.
It appears that the more visionary contributions of Schindler and Neutra were focused on
the northern portion of the garden, which may have had the most creative potential as it was not
hampered by the adaptive reuse of the earlier Frank Lloyd Wright design. Sketches from both the
Schindler and Neutra archives illustrate variations on a theme – an expressionist-like series of
terraces, pergola and flower beds terminating at a three-fingered wading pool. The structures look
both organic and modern, whether they are proposed to be executed in concrete block, or finished
with a smooth surface. (Figures 3.4 through 3.7)
Two sketches not shown in this thesis are part of the Richard and Dion Neutra Papers, 1925
– 1970, and are strikingly different than the others.
90
Each illustrates structures composed of many
blocks, stacked tall and somewhat imposing. Their presence is much more monumental and the
designs seem to bring with them a modern European influence. Neutra’s sketches seem to express
signs of geometric clarity and an almost fine-honed rationalism. We can see influences from Europe
and the “International Style.”
The remaining perspective drawings appear to be the combined work of both Schindler and
Neutra, and exude the feeling of a true collaboration. Two such drawings illustrate a clean and
streamlined approach with smooth built features in tandem with simple, yet elegant, vegetation.
(Figures 3.7 and 3.8) It is reminiscent of the work of Irving Gill, and the result looks almost utopian.
The terrace garden plans seem to identify with the new California ethos. With such a striking

88
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 78.
89
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 82.
90
Both drawings are housed in the University of California Los Angeles Library Special Collections, Richard and Dion
Neutra Papers, 1925 – 1970. “Perspective of Pergola from the Road” and “Aerial Perspective of Wading Pool and
Pergola” can be found under Project Records – Drawings – Barnsdall – Oversize Folder 929.

45
collaboration, one has to wonder why Neutra’s name appears to be erased or eliminated from at
least two sketches for the site.

Figure 3.4: Schindler and Neutra, Wading Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles. From the R. M. Schindler papers,
Architecture & Design Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

Figure 3.5: Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, 1925. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art
Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

46

Figure 3.6: Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles. In this image, we can see Neutra’s initials, as well as the year 1925.
From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University
of California Santa Barbara.

Figure 3.7: Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles. In this copy of a drawing, in the bottom right corner, it appears as
though Richard Neutra’s initials, and the year “1925” have been eliminated. From the collection of the City of Los
Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.

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CHAPTER FOUR
A Description of the Schindler Terrace
The garden created by Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra must have looked unlike any
outdoor public space at the time. The geometric concrete juxtaposed with organic material was
untraditional, artistic and thoroughly modern. Individual spaces built of cast concrete block created
secluded outdoor rooms that allowed for a sense of privacy and solitude. The location of the site
provided unparalleled views and a rare glimpse of the surrounding terrain. The melding of shapes
and textures in combination with the location of this detached retreat, created a unique example of
modern landscape architecture.
A Historic American Building Survey (HABS) document from 1969 illustrates the overall
shape of the terrace and shows the hillside garden contained within walls constructed of cast
concrete blocks. (Figure 4.1) Outside of the walls, the site was surrounded by acacia, olive, and
pepper trees, as is noted on a “Map of Olive Hill Showing Land to be Subdivided, 1927.” (This was
the year Aline Barnsdall donated her property to the City of Los Angeles.) (Figure 4.2)

Figure 4.1: This image from a Historic American Building Survey (HABS), 1969, illustrates the use of concrete block in
the terrace garden. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS, HABS CAL, 19-
LOSAN, 55- (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/ca1386.sheet.00002a/).

48

Figure 4.2: Map of Olive Hill Showing Land to be Subdivided, May 10, 1927. This segment is part of a larger map of the
entire Barnsdall property executed once the site was donated to the City of Los Angeles. It notes the built structures in
the garden in addition to vegetation. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and
Parks and Cultural Affairs.

The garden is easily divided into north and south sections, as a broad expanse of lawn
separates concrete structures at each end. A retaining wall and a circular bowl feature remain, which
were reminiscent of Wright’s plan. (Figures 2.7 and 4.3) Schindler’s “Fountain for a Terrace on
Olive Hill, April 1924” illustrates a rounded seating area with a singular bench following the curve of
the wall. (Figures 4.4 and 4.5). This differs slightly from Frank Lloyd Wright’s plans that called for
three tiers of amphitheater-like seating. From the “Map of Olive Hill Showing Land to be
Subdivided, 1927” we learn that a pepper tree was located near the bench, planted in a hexagonal
shaped planter box. (The pepper tree is no longer present.) At the end of the bench, where the bowl
meets the wall, a half-circle planting bed contained a single shrub – although both features no longer
exist.

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Figure 2.7: Duplicated here for comparison.

Figure 4.3: An example of the concrete blocks in the southern portion of the garden. The left side of this image displays
a portion of the retaining wall and bench that encircle the bowl area. Photograph by the author, October 2011.

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Figure 4.4: Fountain for a Terrace on Olive Hill, April 1924. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design
Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara. (Fountain for a Terrace on
Olive Hill, April 1924.)

Figure 4.5: This image displays a portion of the retaining wall and bench that encircle the bowl area. Photograph by the
author, October 2011.

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The “Fountain for a Terrace on Olive Hill, April 1924” also notes the existence of a “present
floor,” which according to the 1927 site plan, was paved with cement. Some of Wright’s plans had
called for the bowl to be covered in sand or sod, although this appears to have been reconsidered.
The cement floor, together with the geometric blocks that create the round wall, and the smooth
built-in bench, must have truly given the impression of an outdoor room when this part of the site
was in its prime. A feeling of privacy is created by the wall that makes up the back of the seat, and
the surrounding trees would have provided a canopy of dappled sunlight.
Wright had called for a “pool and sand table” feature to connect the indoor-outdoor spaces
of the CPSM. In the Schindler Terrace plan, this was transformed into a hexagonal drinking fountain
and adjacent L-shaped flower box enclosed in concrete blocks. It appears that the fountain was built
on existing footings, and a drawing of a “Tiled Fountain for A. Barnsdall” shows the basin to be
composed of stepped bands of blue and gold tiles, with the blue tiles extending to the border of the
adjacent flower box. A bronze bas-relief sculpture was inset within the wall of the fountain, with the
inscriptions “Gorham Co. Founds” and “E Buchanan.”
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The area surrounding the fountain called
for paving of square concrete blocks. (Figures 4.6 through 4.8) The 1927 site plan illustrates a
double row of stepping stones that create a walkway between the drinking fountain and the lawn to
the north, which differs from the earlier 1924 “Fountain for a Terrace on Olive Hill,” calling instead
for four poured concrete steps.

Figure 4.6: Tiled Fountain for A. Barnsdall, Olive Hill, LA. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design
Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

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This plaque is currently stored off-site, to protect it from damage.

52

Figure 4.7: The blue and gold tiled fountain and planter were located near the base of this tree. Photograph by the
author, October 2011.

Figure 4.8: This bas-relief sculpture is currently housed off site at the Hollyhock House. It was part of the tiled fountain
shown in figures 3.9 and 3.10. Photograph by the author, October 2011.

53
Frank Lloyd Wright’s plans had called for the hillside sloping down towards the bowl to be
densely planted.
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In this area, east of some stepping-stones, Schindler and Neutra retained this idea,
using irregularly spaced acacia and oleander trees. (Figures 4.2 and 4.9) At some point after 1942, a
brick staircase replaced the stepping-stones. An additional retaining wall and second staircase were
also constructed, as these features are not noted on any plans before to 1942.

Figure 4.9: This is a segment of a 1942 Irrigation Plan for the site. It calls out built structures and vegetation, such as
acacia and oleander trees. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and
Cultural Affairs.
Adjacent to the bowl, in the southwest corner of the garden, a small area projects out to the
west. This appears to be part of the CPSM footprint initially designed by Wright. In this space, a
concrete L-shaped seat still exists, which is seen on Schindler’s “Sketch for a Fountain, 1924.”
(Figure 4.10) Along the same wall, in a corner to the south, once stood a large flowerpot that has
been removed for safety issues. (Figures 4.11 and 4.12) A matching flowerpot is located in the
northern portion of the garden, and both appear to have been planted with “vines.”

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Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,” 73.

54

Figure 4.10: An L-shaped seat is seen in the upper right corner of this image. Photograph taken by the author, October
2011.

Figure 4.11: View a flowerpot, 1992. This image is taken from the Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report,
conducted in 1992 by Archiplan Urban Design Collaborative. It shows both a flowerpot and part of the L-shaped seat in
the southern portion of the garden. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and
Parks and Cultural Affairs.

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Figure 4.12: This photo was taken from the outer perimeter of the garden terrace. It illustrates the use of the concrete
blocks and shows one of two “existing flowerpots” mentioned in the Schindler and Neutra plans. Undated image from
the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.

A wall composed of poured concrete and concrete block bounded the western edge of the
garden. (It has since been removed as the hillside is unstable.) This wall connected the seating area in
the south to a wading pool and pergola in the north. Wright initially designed this western wall as the
terminus of a series of terraces, and Schindler and Neutra incorporated this wall into their plan. The
“Map of Olive Hill Showing Land to be Subdivided, 1927” indicates a seat projecting from a bay in
the center of the wall, and another seat located to the north, where the wall meets a flowerpot. (Both
of these seats are no longer present, and the same is true of the concrete blocks and paving in front
of these benches.)
The second flowerpot matches one previously mentioned, and both are consistent with
Wright’s plan calling for flower boxes to flank opposite ends of the lower terrace retaining wall.
These features are called out in the plans of Schindler and Neutra, and read “present flowerpot” and

56
“present base of concr. flowerpot.” (Figures 4.13 and 4.14) A photograph taken of the wading pool
during construction illustrates that the flowerpot had already been installed while work was being
done in the northern part of the garden. This photo also shows plant material inside the pot. (Figure
4.15)

Figure 4.13: Wading Pool, Olive Hill, 1925. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art
Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

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Figure 4.14: Working Drawing of Wading Pool, March 1925. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design
Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

Figure 4.15: Construction of the Wading Pool. This undated image is from the “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic
Structures Report” conducted in 1992 by Archiplan Urban Design Collaborative. From the collection of the City of Los
Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.

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Within the boundary of the western wall, Schindler’s 1924 “Sketch for a Fountain” calls for
three trees, balanced and centered off of the central seating area. We also see a straight, single width
path of stepping-stones running parallel to the wall. The 1927 “Map of Olive Hill Showing Land to
be Subdivided” shows minor differences to the earlier plan – four olive trees instead of three, and
two additional oleander bushes. The path of stepping-stones is modified as well, displayed in an
alternating pattern instead of a straight line. (In Figure 4.15), a small section of the alternating
concrete blocks can be seen.) Extending eastward, away from the wall, a wide expanse of lawn
separates the two ends of the garden. An undated photo illustrates that the area is planted with grass
and a flowering ground cover. (Figure 4.16)

Figure 4.16: An undated image of the north end of the garden, which shows a portion of a flowering lawn. The gazebo is
to the far right. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural
Affairs.

If the southern portion of the garden was largely dictated by pre-existing construction, it is in
the northern portion of the site that Schindler and Neutra had more freedom and fewer physical
boundaries to restrain them. The architects remained faithful to many of Wright’s initial design ideas
while putting their own stamp on things.

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A gazebo sits at the top the northeastern edge of the garden. Even with its proximity to the
nearby drive and the Hollyhock House, it barely registers, as the garden site is relatively isolated and
tucked away. The gazebo is an enclosed structure, built of cast concrete blocks, with a plaster ceiling
and a concrete roof and floor. The final appearance of this structure evolved, as the early plan from
1924 indicates the design was not initially an enclosed structure.
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(Figure 4.17) A paved walkway
leads from the gazebo to the nearby road, and a small retaining wall flanks the walkway on the west
side of its path. Variations of this walkway and retaining wall are noted in drawings. (Figures 4.18
and 4.19) All of these differ from the original “Sketch for a Fountain, 1924” which calls for a path of
alternating concrete paving blocks to encircle most of the garden.

Figure 4.17: The gazebo located in the north east corner of the garden. Photograph by the author, October 2011.

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A drawing does not exist that shows the gazebo as it was actually executed. Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial
Historic Structures Report,” 106.

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Figure 4.18: Wading Pool and Pergola, Olive Hill, Los Angeles, July 1925. In the upper right corner, a rectangle can be
seen where Richard Neutra’s name seems to have been erased. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design
Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

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Figure 4.19: Working Drawing of the Pergola, 1925. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection.
Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

Adjacent to the gazebo, three stepped terraces with pergola extend to the west and terminate
at a wading pool. Richard Neutra valued privacy, and this is illustrated in the terrace and gazebo
areas of the garden. The spaces he and Rudolf Schindler created provided solitude, serenity, and a
place for reflection. These small outdoor rooms also take advantage of spectacular views.
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Each of
the terraces is paved with concrete slab. Four pylons constructed of concrete blocks spanned the
length of the terraces, and supported cantilevered wood framing. (Figures 4.19 and 4.20) (One pylon
is now missing, which was located on the terrace furthest to the west.) Various sketches called for a
bench to be placed at each level of terrace, parallel to a northern retaining wall. This wall is
constructed of concrete blocks and runs the entire length from the gazebo to the end of the third
terrace.

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Even years later, after an abundance of tree growth and the addition of buildings, the site still provides a special vista.

62

Figure 4.20: Working Drawing of the Pergola. From the R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art
Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

According to the map from 1927, the landscape adjacent to the pergola was planted with
two beds of oleander, which differs from an earlier sketch that called for a bed of calluna vulgaris
(scotch heather).
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The same drawing also calls for a row of three Tamirix gallica (tamarisk trees) to
be planted on the east side of a retaining wall, however, it appears that none of this vegetation was
planted. One feature that is constant in plans and sketches is a “present olive tree” that was
incorporated near the wading pool.
The series of terraces and pergola terminate at a stepped wall. Schindler’s 1924 “Sketch for a
Fountain” calls for a spring at the west end of the pergola, and it appears as though water was to
flow over the steps in the wall, to the wading pool below. Other drawings call for a flower box at the
top of the stepped wall. Because they are not noted on the map from 1927, it seems that neither of
these features were executed. To further prove the point, a historic, undated photo features a girl

95
A landscaping plan by Richard Neutra, “Pergola and Wading Pool, Olive Hill – Los Angeles,” calls for vegetation that
does not appear to be planted. This plan is housed in the University of California Los Angeles Library Special
Collections, Richard and Dion Neutra Papers, 1925 – 1970. It can be found under Project Records – Drawings –
Barnsdall – Oversize Folder 929.

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sitting at the top of the wall where either the water feature or flower box would have been situated.
(Figure 4.21)

Figure 4.21: Boys floating boats in the wading pool. The concrete blocks appear to be in excellent condition and we can
see trees in the background. A woman sits atop the stepped wall, where some plans called for a flower box or fountain.
From the collection of the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.

A wading pool with three raised platforms is located at the base of the stepped wall. This
pool bears a striking resemblance to the landscape work Neutra later conducted in Southern
California, especially his use of geometric pools and pavers in his landscape design (such as the
Henry Singleton House, built in 1959). The wading pool is a poured concrete slab, rectangular in
shape, with four channels extending from the south. These channels appear to reflect the retaining
walls Frank Lloyd Wright had previously designed for the site.
Some sketches and perspectives indicate the platforms and surrounding areas to be
composed of concrete block. Another working drawing of the wading pool calls for the platforms to
have a “rough finish.” (Figure 4.14) A photograph showing the wading pool under construction
reveals concrete blocks placed around the inside edge of the pool, but it is unknown as to when (or
why) they were removed. (Figure 4.15) Ultimately, the platforms and surrounding sidewalk were

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executed with a smooth finish. (Figure 4.22) Gently rising from the south end of the pool is a
stepped platform composed of concrete blocks (Figure 4.23) Early plans and sketches called for
additional blocks to be used as stepping-stones, traveling back up the hill, but it appears the pavers
were not utilized in this fashion.

Figure 4.22: The wading pool, finished and filled with water. The platforms have been executed with a smooth finish.
Plants can be seen in the flower bed and flowerpot, and square pavers can be seen in the top left corner. From the R. M.
Schindler papers, Architecture & Design Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California
Santa Barbara.

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Figure 4.23: View of the wading pool filled with water, looking to the north. Undated photograph from the Los Angeles
Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image N-004-770.4
(http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034209.jpg).

The wading pool is enclosed to the north and the west by a retaining wall composed of
concrete blocks. Within the confines of the northern wall, Schindler and Neutra incorporated the
existing olive tree mentioned earlier. (Figures 4.2 and 4.13) Adjacent to the wall, on the back side of
the terraces and pergola, a set of stairs climbs up the hill. This was probably not part of the original
plan, as there is no sign of these stairs in early sketches; however, the 1942 irrigation plan and the
1969 HABS drawings illustrate the feature.
As one heads back up the hill from the foot of the wading pool platforms, a series of three
retaining walls rise towards the southeast. (Figure 4.24) The walls are situated on a slope,
constructed of concrete blocks, and form two flower beds. The flower beds create a transition
between the lawn above and the wading pool below. These retaining walls differ slightly from the
early 1924 plan, which indicates only two retaining walls – one long, and the other very short. In
some of Neutra’s sketches, he drapes foliage over the retaining walls with clusters of vegetation
draping down the concrete. This effect is used in other areas of the garden as well, and the contrast
of organic material against the geometric built environment is quite striking. (See Figures 3.5 through

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3.8)

Figure 4.24: An undated photograph of Aline Barnsdall near the wading pool. Flower beds composed of concrete blocks
can be seen in the center of the photograph. The gazebo can be seen in the upper right corner. Photograph courtesy of
the Los Angeles Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image N-004-770.6
(http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034212.jpg).

Sketches indicate an existing pepper tree at the end of the longest retaining wall, and
drawings suggest that grass was to be planted adjacent to the flower beds. The 1927 plan indicates
that the beds were planted with “flowers,” and historic photos, including one from the Los Angeles
Sunday Times (September 4, 1927), provide evidence of this vegetation. (Figure 4.25) The Historic
Structures Report conducted in 1992 identifies the lower bed of flowers as Rudbeckia birta, and
additional photos give a glimpse of the plant materials that have occupied the flower beds.
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(Figures
4.26 and 4.27)

96
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report, 127.

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Figure 4.25: The image in the center of the page shows children sitting at the wading pool. Plants can be seen in the
flower beds. It is captioned, “Children’s Wading Pool at Hollyhocks.” Los Angeles Sunday Times, September 4, 1927, p. 6.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
BARNSDALL PARK--A City Cultural Center
Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); Sep 4, 1927;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1987)
pg. I6

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Figure 4.26: An undated image of the empty wading pool and flowerpot. From the collection of the City of Los Angeles,
Departments of Recreation and Parks and Cultural Affairs.

Figure 4.27: Aline Barnsdall sitting on the edge of one of the flower beds, undated image. Photograph courtesy of the
Los Angeles Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image N-004-770.5
(http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034212.jpg).

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CHAPTER FIVE
Weaving the Threads of Context Together
The Schindler Terrace on Olive Hill is an important piece of the modern architecture and
landscape architecture narrative of Southern California. The site represents both physically and
symbolically a unique period in time, in which Los Angles served as “the place to be” for
progressive, forward thinking people who were determined to take advantage of a unique geography
while living and working in a new way. Modern architects, their clients, and an avant-garde circle of
open-minded people overlapped in each other’s projects and daily lives. The Schindler Terrace is a
physical representation of what was happening in Los Angeles in the early 1920s – a melding of
cultures and schools of thought – east coast and west coast, European and American. Frank L. and
Lloyd Wright from the United States, and Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra from Austria shared
points of commonality, but each also had an individually unique perspective and aesthetic. These
different threads contributed to the design of the Schindler Terrace and are articulated through the
layers of the garden design. The Schindler Terrace is a metaphorical springboard that illustrates the
direction in which modern landscape design would take hold.

Bigger Projects
By nature, Richard Neutra was more professionally ambitious than Rudolf Schindler. In his
early years in California, Neutra was propelled by a desire to make up for lost time, and he had a
strong desire to land larger and more important commissions. At Kings Road the architects teamed
up in a few different ways to try to make this happen. First, was the 1926 competition for the
League of Nations headquarters in Geneva. Neutra saw this as an excellent opportunity to take
things to the next level and persuaded Schindler to join him in the venture. While Schindler had his
own practice to attend to (including clients, other projects, responsibilities, and an active social life),
Neutra put all of his jobs on hold in late 1926 and early 1927, to focus most of his attention on the
competition.
Although the time spent on the project may not have been equal, both of the architects
viewed it as a collaborative effort. One of their preliminary designs featured curved cantilevered
balconies, rectilinear walls, and geometric planes. Parts of this plan seemed to almost mimic some of
the sketches they had done for the north end of Aline Barnsdall’s terrace garden. It was as if
Schindler and Neutra took the shapes of the walls, platforms, pool, terraces, and pergola, and
reconfigured or repurposed them – albeit on a much larger scale. Their final entry assumed a more

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rectilinear configuration. It was a daringly modern effort that cantilevered over the lake and featured
futuristic seaplane access. The architects just missed being awarded a prize. Unfortunately, a point of
contention arose when Rudolf Schindler learned that his name had been left off of the entry.
Whether a mistake or not, it was probably another factor that began to divide the two.

Architectural Group for Industry and Commerce (AGIC)
The second venture in which the two architects teamed up with hopes of landing bigger
projects was in forming the Architectural Group for Industry and Commerce (AGIC). Together
with planner Carol Aronovici, the goal was to broaden the scope of their work and land larger
commissions. A promotional announcement stated that AGIC “includes licensed architects as well
as engineers and specialists in the design of storefronts, interiors and landscaping, internationally
known for the progressive character of their work… Interesting Architecture is the Best
Advertising.”
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AGIC pursued several designs for buildings, which included apartment complexes, office
buildings, cafes, theaters, shops, markets, and even an airport resort complex. One of the more
unique projects was an underground explosives factory. Some of their unbuilt projects included: a
theater for Colton, California, the Effie Dean Café in Lake Elsinore, and a National Trading Center
in Los Angeles. Schindler and Neutra tended to oversee and command their own projects under the
umbrella name, with Neutra securing a majority of the clients. Out of some thirty projects, only two
were actually realized. One, which was largely Schindler’s, was the Leah-Ruth Shop (1926), a fashion
boutique in Long Beach. The second was Richard Neutra’s first major design to be built in America,
the Jardinette Apartments (1928). The garden apartments touted modern efficiency and were the
future of home and town planning, according to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, June 12
1928.
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Different Directions
During construction of the Jardinette apartments, Neutra was also working on one of the
most prestigious projects of his lifetime, the Lovell Health House. (This period also coincided with
Pauline Schindler separating from her husband, taking their son with her to Carmel.) The Lovells

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Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 91.
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According to Hines, it is likely assumed that the author of this article was Pauline Schindler. It is interesting to
consider how Rudolf Schindler felt about this. The couple’s relationship was on shaky ground at this point, eventually
leading to their separation. Neutra’s work was branching off in a different modern direction, and his own spouse seemed
to be siding with Neutra’s principals. Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, 95.

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had been loyal patrons to Schindler, and met Richard Neutra when he came to live on Kings Road.
Philip Lovell and Richard Neutra hit it off, in large part due to their shared interest in the body and
the effects that architecture could have on it. This is not to say that Schindler did not have similar
concerns, but the way in which Dr. Lovell and Richard Neutra could communicate their ideas seems
to have led the doctor to grant two commissions to Neutra. The first was the Lovell Physical Culture
Center in Los Angeles, and the second was the Lovell Health House in the hills of Hollywood.
Schindler had allegedly prepared preliminary sketches for the Lovell’s Hollywood house, but
the commission was awarded to Neutra. A friction seems to have formed between Schindler and
Lovell, possibly due in part to structural deficiencies with the previous homes he had built for
Lovell. There was also talk of Lovell being fed up with Schindler’s flirtatious attitude towards his
wife Leah.
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Neutra’s Lovell Health House (1927-1929) became both the first steel frame house and
the first example of the International Style in the United States. It catapulted Neutra’s career and
garnered worldwide attention.
The Lovell Health House looks incredibly different compared to a project Schindler was
working on for Aline Barnsdall around the same time - the unbuilt Translucent House (1927 –
1928). (Figures 5.1 and 5.2) The juxtaposition of the two projects seems to illustrate each architect’s
different approach to modernism. Schindler’s very organic and site specific drawing demonstrates
his interest in how a particular building could be set into the surrounding landscape. Neutra’s Lovell
House, streamlined and engineered, seems to speak to the idea that the machine and prefabrication
is the path for the future.

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Schindler was also said to have possibly started an affair with Harriet Freeman, Leah’s sister. Jordan Riefe, “A House
Divided” Orange County Register, March 3, 2017.

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Figure 5.1: Translucent House for Aline Barnsdall by Rudolf Schindler, 1927 – 1928. From the R. M. Schindler papers,
Architecture & Design Collection. Art Design and Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara.

Figure 5.2: Richard Neutra standing in front of the Lovell Health House, built 1929. Photo taken in 1931, from the Los
Angeles Public Library/Security Pacific National Bank Collection; image 00061597
(http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061597.jpg).

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Summary
The chemistry of West Hollywood and Kings Road in the 1920s is something that can
probably never be replicated. The architects, their mentors, clients, and circle of friends overlapped
in a multitude of ways, and evolved into something that could only happen in Los Angeles. The
work created during this time sowed the seeds of California modernism. The relatively short period
of time that Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra lived and worked together resulted in a new
direction in design that melded a Californian and European experience. While their League of
Nations competition entry is more widely known as an early collaborative effort, the Schindler
Terrace came first, and is an important piece of the story.
Working within the skeleton that their mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright and his son had
designed, Schindler continued with his site specific planning and space architecture, using pre-cast
concrete blocks to create nestled terraces with pergolas set into the hillside. Neutra elaborated on the
idea and imported style themes from Europe, which included bold geometric walls and planes. Both
architects took cues from Irving Gill with the use of strategically placed vegetation. In part, Aline
Barnsdall’s changing ideas and demands served as the catalyst for the modern movement in
California - her Hollyhock House and Olive Hill project, promulgated the confluence of Frank
Lloyd Wright, his son Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler, and Richard Neutra - each seminal figures in
the development of modernism in 1920s Los Angeles.
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The design of the Schindler Terrace points the way that landscape design and architecture
would be heading in the following years. In the future, Richard Neutra apprentices such as Harwell
Hamilton Harris and Gregory Ain would take the tenents of modernism learned from these masters
and launch into the next phase of California modern architecture and landscape architecture. A truly
indoor/outdoor experience would become the norm in California building and geometric forms
combined with captivating vegetation in the landscape would tie it all together.

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Sheine, R.M. Schindler, 25.

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CHAPTER SIX
Heritage Conservation and the Schindler Terrace
The Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles has seen many changes since Aline Barnsdall
purchased Olive Hill in 1919. Nearly one hundred years later, an artistic scene thrives, and visitors
from all parts of the city enjoy not only the Hollyhock House, but its western lawn, and the lovely
views it offers. Fantastic vistas still prevail, but they certainly have changed. Surrounding city blocks
have long been developed, and buildings such as the nearby hospital have grown taller. What many
visitors enjoying the views from the lawn may not realize is that one of the earliest modern gardens
in California is just a stone’s throw from their perch.

Current Conditions of the Garden
Visitors to the Barnsdall Art Park are currently fenced off from the Schindler Terrace, and
many patrons are unaware that the site even exists. (Figure 5.1) To the typical visitor, the garden may
look like a ruin. Although access is restricted, those who wish to trespass can find a way in. The
grounds themselves reveal their deferred state. The rounded bench in the southern portion of the
garden is missing concrete blocks and its seat is “falling forward” toward the ground. (Figure 5.2)
Also in the vicinity, the tile fountain that Schindler reworked, from the original Frank Lloyd Wright
footprint, now quietly collects the leaves and branches of the nearby tree. The fountain is missing
concrete blocks and tiles, and appears to be in a very delicate state. (Figure 5.3) Adjacent to this area,
where a bay projects out to the west, the base of a flowerpot and an L-shaped bench still remain,
albeit in poor condition. The flowerpot itself has been removed, and the western wall is nearly
absent. (Figures 5.4 and 5.5)

Figure 6.1: This fencing currently restricts access to the Schindler Terrace. August 2017. Photo taken by author.

75

Figure 6.2: View of the south end of the garden. The rounded bench is missing concrete blocks its seat is falling forward.
The fountain is in the foreground to the left of the tree, August 2017. Photo taken by author.

Figure 6.3: The remains of the fountain. Concrete blocks and tiles are missing, August 2017. Photo taken by author.

76

Figure 6.4: Three images show the southwest portion of the garden. The base of a flowerpot and an L-shaped bench still
remain. The wall that continued to the north end of the garden (to the right) is almost non-existent, August 2017. Photo
taken by author.

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Figure 6.5: To the left in this image, we see the base and remains of the “western wall.” It is also clear to see that the the
expanse of lawn has not been watered in some time, August 2017. Photo taken by author.

The great expanse of flowering lawn has not seen irrigation in some time and lacks the luster
of its early days. An original flower pot is in situ, and although somewhat deteriorated, closely
resembles its appearance of nearly one hundred years ago. The flowerpot’s strong presence serves as
reminder of the evolution of the site and the architects who participated in its transformation.
(Figure 5.6) The nearby wading pool has been empty for some time, but retains its modern
appearance, as the smooth concrete platforms and concrete blocks used as stepping stones continue
to demonstrate the geometry of the garden plan. (Figure 5.7) A western wall is deteriorating and
missing concrete blocks, yet it continues to succeed in framing the view towards Hollywood. (Figure
5.8)

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Figure 6.6: Flowerpot in the north end of the garden, August 2017. Photo taken by author.

Figure 6.7: A view looking north at the wading pool, smooth concrete platforms, and concrete blocks connecting to
what was once the nearby lawn, August 2017. Photo taken by author.

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Figure 6.8: Another view of the concrete platforms. We can also see portions of the wall with damaged concrete blocks,
August 2017. Photo taken by author.

Vegetation in the flower beds is not consistent with the original plans, however, the concrete
block walls that form beds retain their original shape. In the individual terraces, what remains of the
wood pergola is rotting or missing, and the original benches have long since been removed. (Figure
5.9) Even with this long list of issues to be addressed, the Schindler Terrace retains a provenance
and physical features that identify it as one of the earliest modern landscape designs executed in Los
Angeles. Steps should be taken to reintroduce the space to the public.

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Figure 6.9: View of the flower beds with terraces and pergola in the background, August 2017. Photo taken by author.

The successful restoration of the Hollyhock House, completed in 2015, has made it possible
once again for fans of architecture to tour a National Historic Landmark, and as "Residence A" is
now in the midst of its restoration, another site in the story of Olive Hill will be accessible to the
public. Adjacent to these buildings, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery offers a large exhibition
space for artists at varying stages of their career, and the Barnsdall Art Center offers classes to both
adults and children in the visual and performing arts.
101
Movie nights, wine tastings, and site-specific
performances have motivated many to make their way up the hill and experience a truly unique Los
Angeles location.

101
“About LAMAG,” Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Updated August 23, 2017.
http://barnsdall.org/los-angeles-municipal-art-gallery/about.

81

Figure 6.10: Aaron Axelrod performs “Dark Matter,” a swirling video installation projected on the exterior of the
Hollyhock House, July 2016. Photo taken by author.

The Schindler Terrace holds the potential to join these areas of the park and become another
jewel in the crown of Olive Hill. The planning, funding, and maintenance necessary to make this
happen could result in utilizing the park to its full potential while educating Angelenos on an
important piece of their city’s architectural history. The garden site has seen tremendous
deterioration over the years, and it remains the most endangered structure on the hill. Unfortunately,
“time effects landscape design more than any other design discipline,” and this is certainly true of
the Schindler Terrace.
102
The nature of materials, building techniques of the time, vandalism, an
earthquake in 1994, and a lack of funding have not helped the matter.

Historic Designed Landscapes
The National Park Service publishes Preservation Briefs to provide guidance on preserving,
rehabilitating, and restoring historic properties. Preservation Brief Number 36 deals with the
preservation and conservation of Cultural Landscapes.
103
In this report, a cultural landscape is
defined as "a geographic area, including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or

102
Johnson and Frankel, Modern Landscape Architecture, 3.
103
Charles Birnbaum, “Protecting Cultural Landscapes: Planning, Treatment and Management of Historic Landscapes,”
Preservation Brief 36 (Washington, DC: National Park Service), Accessed August 11, 2017.
https://www.nps.gov/tps/how-to-preserve/briefs/36-cultural-landscapes.htm.

82
domestic animals therein, associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other
cultural or aesthetic values."
104
The report goes on to define four general types of cultural
landscapes: historic sites, historic designed landscapes, historic vernacular landscapes, and
ethnographic landscapes. Historic Sites refer to landscapes associated with historic events or people,
such as the Gettysburg National Military Park. Ethnographic Landscapes contain natural and/or cultural
resources that "associated people define as heritage resources."
105
This would include areas such as
sacred religious sites or a geologic structure. A third definition used when identifying a cultural
landscape is the Historic Vernacular Landscape. This is a landscape in which function plays a significant
role, and the site evolved through use by people whose occupancy or activities shaped the landscape.
An example would be a rural village, a farm, or an industrial complex.
The fourth definition of cultural landscape is a Historic Designed Landscape, which is most
applicable to the Schindler Terrace, and is defined as such:
A landscape that was consciously designed or laid out by a landscape architect, master
gardener, architect, or horticulturist according to design principles, or an amateur gardener
working in a recognized style or tradition. The landscape may be associated with a significant
person(s), trend, or event in landscape architecture; or illustrate an important development in
the theory and practice of landscape architecture. Aesthetic values play a significant role in
designed landscapes. Examples include parks, campuses, and estates.
106

The Schindler Terrace meets this definition, as four prominent modern architects (Frank
Lloyd Wright, Lloyd Wright Jr., Rudolf Schindler, and Richard Neutra) played roles in the
development of the site, and these architects were early pioneers of the modern movement that
would flourish in California and beyond. In addition, this was the first true collaboration between
Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra, whose joint partnership existed within a small window of
time. The garden they designed is one of the earliest examples of modern landscape design in
California, and the site has not been substantially modified since its completion in 1925.

Addressing Conservation
The Aline Barnsdall Complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2007.
107
The
Schindler Terrace is included in this designation and is currently "preserved" in ruin with a fence
that attempts to keep the public from entering. The purpose of this thesis serves as only an

104
Birnbaum, “Protecting Cultural Landscapes.”
105
Birnbaum, “Protecting Cultural Landscapes.”
106
Birnbaum, “Protecting Cultural Landscapes.”
107
Jeffrey Herr, “Aline Barnsdall Complex” National Historic Landmark Application, 2006.

83
investigation into the history of the site, as well as a brief discussion of current conditions and
integrity. A complete Cultural Landscape Report would need to be completed to more carefully
analyze the physical condition of the site. A Historic Structures Report of the Schindler Terrace was
conducted in 1992, but much has deteriorated in the past twenty-five years.
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties identifies four primary
treatments before to undertaking work on a landscape. Of these, Restoration seems to be the
appropriate fit and is defined as such:
The act or process of accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a property as
it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of features from other
periods in its history and reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period. The
limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and other
code-required work to make properties functional is appropriate within a restoration
project.
108

To restore the garden to its original appearance (1925 – 1927), many factors need to be
taken into account, given that the remaining built features are in a fragile state, and nearly all of the
vegetation from the period of significance is no longer present. Of equal importance is the need to
create a landscape interpretation plan for visitors, to educate the public on the importance of the site
and its unique history. A preservation maintenance plan will also need to be implemented as to
ensure that the garden features are retained and to minimize the deterioration of architectural
features.
Addressing the issues associated with concrete structures will be an important piece of the
restoration of the Schindler Terrace. The concrete blocks, the pool, and the circular bowl that
remain are some of the features that illustrate and articulate the modern landscape design.
Preservation Brief 15, issued by The Department of the Interior, is entitled Preservation of Historic
Concrete and discusses in great detail the various issues associated with the maintenance, repair, or
replacement of historic concrete structures. The preservation brief also emphasizes “with historic
concrete buildings, one of the more difficult challenges is allowing for sufficient time during the
planning phase to analyze the concrete, develop mixes, and provide time for adequate aging of
mock-ups for matching to the original concrete.”
109
Perhaps the rehabilitation work conducted at

108
Birnbaum, “Protecting Cultural Landscapes.”
109
Paul Gaudette and Deborah Slaton, “Preservation of Historic Concrete,” Preservation Brief 15. (Washington, DC:
National Park Service), Accessed August 11, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/tps/how-to-preserve/briefs/15-concrete.htm.

84
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman House in Hollywood could be used as a reference for the restoration
of the Schindler Terrace.

Education
One of the biggest factors that will aid in the reintroduction of the Schindler Terrace will be
education. Implementing an interpretive program will not only shed light on the importance of the
site, but will inform on the greater history of Olive Hill, and hopefully the broader scope of
modernism in Los Angeles. With a number of public and private schools in the surrounding
neighborhood, the Cultural Affairs Department could expand programs for students and their
families. Tours and hands-on activities related to the Schindler Terrace could be part of the
interpretation of the site. As Lawrence Halprin wrote in an essay entitled Preserving the Modern
Landscape:
The best pieces of landscape art and design are important not just as contemporary places to
live in but as part of our history and culture... A major part of the solution has to start with
educating the public about the importance of designed landscapes. This education should
begin at an early age and include the elements that form a critical eye for judgement of the
values of environment and landscape design… No other art form designs with so many
elements of nature, whose experiences are often extremely ephemeral.
110

The multitude of visitors who visit the Hollyhock House each year would likely find interest
in the architectural history of the Schindler Terrace - especially those who might not know that the
elder Wright was not the only architect to make his mark on Olive Hill. Many themes could be
explored; some examples include:
• The architects associated with the site
• The roles of Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra
• The story of California modernism
• The association of Aline Barnsdall, Leah Lovell, and the broader group of avant-garde
patrons of the arts
• The use of concrete at the Schindler Terrace as well as early modern architecture
• Aline Barnsdall’s role as a client
• Frank Lloyd Wright’s initial design for the site
• The role of Lloyd Wright Jr. and his work with his father
• The history of the olive trees on Olive Hill

110
Lawrence Halprin, “Preserving the Modern Landscape,” The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Accessed August 11,
2017. https://tclf.org/features/preserving-modern-landscape.

85
Additional educational opportunities for the site could include use as an outdoor classroom
for the Art Center, as well as architecture and landscape architecture students. Small concerts and
other outdoor performances would also fit into the program of Olive Hill.
This also seems to be an excellent opportunity to launch a museum exhibit related to the
site. This could be unique way in which to teach the public the larger story of the events of Olive
Hill and the history of modernism in Los Angeles. The architectural archives of the Wrights, Rudolf
Schindler and Richard Neutra each contain magnificent plans, drawings, photographs and other
related materials. Combined with the digital archives of libraries and the materials belonging to the
Department of Cultural Affairs, when displayed together, the various pieces would tell an amazing
story. It seems feasible that such an exhibition could be held in the Los Angeles Municipal Art
Gallery, or even the Schindler House in West Hollywood.

Security
Restoration and education will unfortunately not be enough to ensure success for the site.
Security is a major issue, as the Schindler Terrace is somewhat “nestled away” and the individual
private spaces of the garden offer "well-hidden alcoves" for those looking for secluded places for
illicit activities. Also, it appears as though vast areas of concrete are often tempting to vandals. The
graffiti that repeatedly covers the site (and its removal) is detrimental. If the fencing was removed
and the site restored and opened to the rest of the property, it seems that both of these issues could
still be a problem. To keep the site “active and in use” could prevent unwanted behavior in the
daylight hours, but there will still be a need for some sort of night time park security staff. Without
proper security measures, the Schindler Terrace will still be susceptible to vandalism and vagrancy.

86
CONCLUSION
The Schindler Terrace is a valuable resource for the city of Los Angeles. It represents one of
the earliest modern landscape designs in California. The site has the potential to teach and provide
respite to the community of Los Angeles, as well as the greater population of patrons who come
from all over the world each year to visit the Barnsdall Art Park. This garden serves as an important
piece of the California modernist story. A restoration would serve in articulating another part of the
“Olive Hill narrative,” one that is mostly unknown to the general public.
Areas for Further Study
Because of the Schindler Terrace’s unique history, the avenues for further research are vast.
A deeper exploration into to the avant-garde group of people and patrons whose lives were
interwoven could be fascinating and insightful. This could potentially feed into a closer look at the
work Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra while they jointly participated in the Architectural Group
of Industry and Commerce (AGIC). Finding threads with additional early modern gardens of Los
Angeles could create a more diverse dialog regarding the story of Olive Hill, its architects, and the
overall history of modern landscape architecture in the region.
More questions deserve a further look as well. What portions of the terrace were actually
completed under the supervision of Frank Lloyd Wright? Did Aline Barnsdall have any thoughts on
the finished garden? Are there patrons (or descendants of patrons) who visited the garden that can
recollect their thoughts of the space?
An effort to find case studies of smaller modern cultural landscapes could aid in the
restoration plan for the Schindler Terrace - specifically, sites that address issues such as concrete,
pools and water features, hillside construction, compatible drought tolerant vegetation, and adapting
modern landscapes to make them ADA compliant. With a multitude of veins for further study, it
seems that the Schindler Terrace could become a place for both respite and research.
In regard to modern cultural landscapes, Charles Birnbaum has written that “the greatest
challenge that we have in getting our message out is finding a way to get the message to a broader
audience.” He goes on to say that we need “to give the public the essential tools to be able to
understand, not just buildings and the history of architecture, but the mosaic of the American
landscape in the same way.”
111
Preserving our landscape heritage is more important than ever,

111
Sarah Kathleen Peck and Eliza Shaw Valk, “Leadership and Cultural Landscapes: An Interview with Charles
Birnbaum,” Scenario Journal, Fall 2012, Accessed August 10, 2017. https://scenariojournal.com/lu-leadership-and-
cultural-landscapes/.

87
especially in a city whose surroundings can seem to change overnight. Restoring this garden gives us
the chance to articulate the cultural value of the modernist movement in Los Angeles and beyond.

88
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Wright, Frank Lloyd. An Autobiography. New York: Horizon Press, 1977.

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Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

98
APPENDIX A

Select Chronology of Buildings and Events
Associated with the Schindler Terrace and Olive Hill
112

1867 Frank Lloyd Wright born in Richland
Center, Wisconsin.

1870 Irving Gill born in Syracuse, New York.

1870 Adolf Loos born in Brno, Czech Republic.

1882 Aline Barnsdall born in Bradford,
Pennsylvania.

1887 Rudolf Schindler born in Vienna, Austria.

1890 Frank Lloyd Wright begins working with
Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in
Chicago.

1890 Lloyd Wright born in Oak Park, Illinois.

1890 Irving Gill moves to Chicago and begins
working with Adler and Sullivan - under
the supervision of Frank Lloyd Wright.

1892 Richard Neutra born in Vienna, Austria.

1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago.

1893 Frank Lloyd Wright opens his own
practice in Chicago.

112
Information for this chronology is derived from the following sources:
Archiplan, “Theodore Barnsdall Memorial Historic Structures Report.”
Gebhard and Von Breton, Lloyd Wright, Architect.
Hollyhock House,” Report for the City of Los Angeles, Departments of Public Works, 2009.
Jeffrey Herr, “Aline Barnsdall Complex,” National Historic Landmark Application, 2006.
Hines, Irving Gill and the Architecture of Reform.
Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture.
Barbara Lamprecht, Richard Neutra, 1892-1970: Survival Through Design (Köln; London: Taschen, 2016).
LSA Associates and Chattel Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, “Supplemental Historic Structure Report:
Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Frank Lloyd Wright Designs: The Sketches, Plans, and
Drawings (New York, NY: Rizzoli, 2011).
Smith, Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House and Olive Hill.
Smith and Darling, The Architecture of R.M. Schindler.
Wright, Weintraub, and Hines, Lloyd Wright.

99
1893 Irving Gill leaves Chicago for Southern
California due to health issues.

1906 Rudolf Schindler begins studying at the
Technical University in Vienna.

1909 The Olmstead Brothers begin working on
a plan for the Panama-California
Exposition in San Diego – scheduled to
open in 1915.

1909 Frank Lloyd Wright leaves Chicago, his
practice, and his family for Europe, where
he will work on his Wasmuth portfolio.

1909 Lloyd Wright joins his father to assist with
the Wasmuth portfolio.

1910 Rudolf Schindler enrolls at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Vienna and studies with
Otto Wagner. He also attends lectures at
the informal school (Bauschule) of Adolf
Loos.

1910 Richard Neutra reads Friedrich Nietzsche
and develops a friendship with Ernst
Freud (son of Sigmund).

1911 Frank Lloyd Wright begins building
“Taliesin,” a home/studio in Spring
Green, Wisconsin.

1911 Lloyd Wright works at the Harvard
Herbarium, followed by a job with the
landscape firm Olmsted and Olmsted in
Boston. He then makes his way to
Southern California.

1911 Rudolf Schindler first views the Wasmuth
portfolio.

While a student, Schindler works for the
firm of Hans Mayr and Theodor Mayer in
Vienna.

100
1911 Richard Neutra studies architecture at the
Technical University in Vienna, where he
studies with Otto Wagner.

1912 Lloyd Wright begins working with Irving
Gill in San Diego.

1912

Irving Gill designs “Unbuilt Project for
Casas Grandes” for client Homer
Laughlin, Los Angeles. Rendered by Lloyd
Wright.

1912 Richard Neutra begins attending lectures
by Adolf Loos.

1913

Frank Lloyd Wright designs Midway
Gardens in Chicago.

1913 Irving Gill moves his office to Los Angeles
where Lloyd Wright will join him.

1913 -1914 Lloyd Wright works with Irving Gill on
the design of the city of Torrance.

1914 Schindler arrives in New York, and soon
after makes his way to Chicago where he
secures work as a draftsman for
Ottenheimer, Stern & Reichert.

Schindler’s primary objective is to work
with Frank Lloyd Wright.

1914 Frank Lloyd Wright and Aline Barnsdall
meet in Chicago.

1914

Irving Gill constructs the La Jolla
Woman’s Club.

1914 World War I breaks out in July.

1914 Neutra discovers Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Wasmuth portfolio.

Neutra begins service as an officer in the
Imperial Austrian Army.

101
1915 Lloyd Wright begins a partnership with
landscape architect Paul Thiene in Los
Angeles.

1915 Rudolf Schindler makes a trip from
Chicago to California via Denver; Salt
Lake City; Taos, New Mexico; and the
Grand Canyon.

1915-1917 Panama-California Exposition in San
Diego, ultimately designed by Bertram
Goodhue.

1916 In Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright begins
designing a theater and residence for Aline
Barnsdall to be located Los Angeles. The
home will come to be known as the
Hollyhock House.

1916 - 1922

Frank Lloyd Wright receives a commission
for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and
begins an extended period of travel
between the United States and Japan (1916
and 1922).

1916

Irving Gill’s Dodge House completed on
Kings Road.

1916 Lloyd Wright sets up his own practice in
downtown Los Angeles.

1917 Aline Barnsdall’s daughter Elizabeth
(“Sugar Top”) is born.

1917 Lloyd Wright marries his first wife, actress
Kira Markham. They spend a year on the
east coast.

1917 Rudolf Schindler begins working in
Wright’s Chicago office.

1918 Schindler assists on the the Imperial Hotel
project. Frank Lloyd Wright leaves
Schindler in charge of the Chicago office
during his travels to Japan.

102
1918 Armistice signed in November, signifying
the end of World War I.

1919 Aline Barnsdall purchases the 36-acre site
known as Olive Hill from Mary Harrison
Spires.

1919 Frank Lloyd Wright returns from Japan in
September and designs Master Plan I for
Aline Barnsdall’s property. He departs
again in December.

1919 Lloyd Wright assists his father with
renderings and landscape designs for the
Barnsdall project. He also serves as
construction supervisor.

1919 Rudolf Schindler marries Sophie Pauline
Gibling.

1919 Richard Neutra works for landscape
architect Gustav Ammann at Otto
Froebel’s landscaping company.

1919

Irving Gill designs Horatio West Court in
Santa Monica.

1920 Rudolf and Pauline Schindler move to Los
Angeles, where Schindler oversees
construction of the Barnsdall House (in
place of Lloyd Wright).

Lloyd Wright continues to take charge of
landscaping on the site.

1920 Frank Lloyd Wright is back in the United
States between July and December. His
office is located in the Homer Laughlin
Building, which he will share with Lloyd.

Frank Lloyd Wright designs Master Plan II
for Aline Barnsdall.

103
1921 Rudolf Schindler and his wife Pauline
make an impactful trip to Yosemite
National Park and are intrigued by the idea
of creating a house that is as “open to
nature” as a tent.

1921 In September, the Hollyhock House and
Residences A and B are nearly complete.
Aline Barnsdall decides to abandon parts
of the plan, which had included a theater
and business zone.

Out of frustration, Barnsdall fires Wright,
but retains Schindler to complete the
upstairs interiors of the Hollyhock House.

1921 Richard Neutra is appointed city architect
of Luckenwalde, Germany. He will also
design a plan for the city’s landscaping.

1921-23 Richard Neutra hired as assistant architect
by Eric Mendelsohn in Berlin.

1922 Wright completes the Imperial Hotel and
returns from Tokyo. He and his son open
an office in West Hollywood.

1922

Lloyd Wright explores concrete-block
construction in a house for the builder
Henry Bollman.
The plans for this house predate those of
Frank Lloyd Wright’s concrete block
buildings in southern California.
1922

Rudolf Schindler completes his studio-
residence on Kings Road in West
Hollywood. The home is built using
similar methods to those of Irving Gill and
his La Jolla Woman’s Club (1914).

The communal home will be shared with
Clyde and Marian Chace. Both families will
bear children within the year.

1922-1926 Rudolf Schindler begins plans for a beach
house for Philip and Leah Lovell.

104
1922 Richard Neutra marries Dione
Niedermann.

1922-1923

Frank Lloyd Wright designs the Doheny
Ranch Development (unbuilt). Landscape
design by Lloyd Wright.

1923

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Millard House “La
Miniatura” completed.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Storer House
completed. Lloyd Wright works as
supervising architect and landscape
designer.

1923 Aline Barnsdall makes an unsuccessful
attempt to donate Olive Hill to the City of
Los Angeles. She decides to improve the
site, and rehires Wright to design a school,
playhouse, and memorial to her father.
(This school and playhouse come to be
known as the “Little Dipper.”) Frank
Lloyd Wright lives on the property - in
Residence B - while working.

1923 In November, construction begins on the
“Little Dipper” but the project is
suspended within two weeks by City
officials. Aline Barnsdall refuses to pay for
changes that need to be made and
abandons the project.

1923 October - Richard Neutra emigrates to the
United States, first works as a draftsman in
New York.

1923 - 1925

Rudolf Schindler designs Pueblo Ribera
Court, twelve vacation cottages in La Jolla,
California.

1923 The Chace family moves out of the
Schindler/Chace House. From this time
forward, the house will have frequently
changing tenants, many from the artistic
community.

105
1924

The Ennis and Freeman houses completed
by Frank Lloyd Wright.

1924 January – Richard and Dione Neutra have
their first son.
1924 Rudolf Schindler Lodge for Philip and
Leah Lovell in Wrightwood, CA.

1924

Rudolf Schindler – John Cooper Packard
Residence.

1924 - 1925 Aline Barnsdall hires Rudolf Schindler to
transform the unfinished school site into a
terrace and pergola. (The site will become
known as the “Schindler Terrace.”)

1924 April - Richard Neutra works as a
draftsman at Holabird and Roche in
Chicago. He meets Frank Lloyd Wright at
the funeral of Louis Sullivan, and is invited
to work at Taliesin East.

November starts working for Wright.

1925 Richard Neutra, his wife Dione, and son
Frank move to Los Angeles, where they
share a home with Rudolf and Pauline
Schindler. They will live there for 5 years.

Neutra collaborates with Schindler on
Aline Barnsdall’s garden terrace.

He also starts a private practice.

1925 Paris Exposition of Industrial and
Decorative Arts.

1925

Richard Neutra assists Gordon Kaufman
on the Eisner House.

1925

Schindler completes the How House
1925 Schindler completes ranch in Fallbrook for
the Lovell’s.

106
1926

Lloyd Wright completes the Millard
Studio, a gallery situated adjacent to La
Miniatura. He also completes Sowden
House in Los Feliz.

1926

Rudolf Schindler completes Lovell Beach
House - Newport Beach, California.

1926

Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler
collaborate on a competition entry for the
League of Nations.
Schindler’s name is omitted from the
plans.

1926 Richard and Dione Neutra have second
son, Dion.

1926-1929 Rudolf Schindler begins remodeling at the
Samuel Freeman House, originally
designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

1927 Aline Barnsdall donates a portion of Olive
Hill to the City. (This includes: Hollyhock
House, the garage, the garden terrace, and
Residence A.) She will retain Residence B,
and street frontage surrounding Olive Hill.

1927 The Hollyhock House is leased to the
California Art Club for the next fifteen
years.

1927

Lloyd Wright designs his own Studio-
Residence.

1927 Lovell Physical Culture Center, designed
by Neutra, is completed.

1927

Rudolf Schindler, Richard Neutra and city
planner Carol Aronovici initiate a joint
practice, calling themselves the
“Architectural Group for Industry and
Commerce” (AGIC).

1927

The Jardinette Apartments. Richard
Neutra for AGIC.

107
1927 Pauline Schindler writes a positive review
for Neutra’s Wie Baut Americka? She
affirms Neutra’s ideology that a new style
of architecture is forming, impersonal,
with prefabricated parts is the means of
meeting the century’s building needs.

1927 Rudolf Schindler and his wife Pauline
separate. Pauline leaves the house with
their son Mark.

1927 – 1928

Rudolf Schindler designs an unbuilt home
for Aline Barnsdall. (Translucent House,
Palos Verdes, California)

1929 Lloyd Wright and wife Helen have a son,
Eric.

1929 Richard Neutra’s Lovell Health House is
completed.

Neutra is the American representative at
the Congres Internationaux d’Architecture
Moderne (CIAM) in Brussels.

Late 1920s

Neutra continues to work on a series of
designs for “Rush City Reformed.” A
personal project he started in Berlin and
continued in New York, Chicago, and
Wisconsin.

1931 Aline Barnsdall commissions Lloyd Wright
Jr. to design a children’s outdoor theater
for Barnsdall Park. (Unbuilt)

1931 Neutra rents a bungalow in Echo Park. His
student apprentices include Gregory Ain,
Harwell Hamilton Harris and Raphael
Soriano.

1932 “Modern Architecture” exhibition at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Richard Neutra is invited to participate
while Rudolf Schindler is excluded.

Neutra’s personal residence (VDL House)
is completed.

108
1933 Adolf Loos dies in Vienna.

1935 Corona School, Richard Neutra.

1936 Irving Gill dies in Carlsbad, California.

1937

Richard Neutra completes the Strathmore
apartments.

1938 Pauline Gibling returns to the Schindler
House and lives in separate wing. This
arrangement will remain intact until
Schindler’s death.

1939 Richard and Dione Neutra have third son,
Raymond.

1942

Hollyhock House is unoccupied during
WWII and falls into disrepair.

1945 – mid 1960s Case Study House program. Richard
Neutra contributes several designs to the
program, while Schindler is not asked to
participate.

1946 Aline Barnsdall dies at Residence B. Heirs
begin selling off portions of Olive Hill
street frontage.

1948 First rehabilitation work for Hollyhock
House is complete, supervised by Lloyd
Wright in collaboration with Frank Lloyd
Wright.

1951

Rudolf Schindler spends time in hospital
due to cancer.

1953 Rudolf Schindler dies.

1954 Residence B is demolished, and
apartments are built on the site.

1954 Frank Lloyd Wright dies in Arizona.

1963 Hollyhock House declared a City
landmark.

109
1963 Neutra’s VDL I is destroyed by fire.
Rebuilt in the following years under the
supervision of his son Dion.

1965 Barnsdall Art Park designated Historic-
Cultural Monument No. 34.

1967 Second rehabilitation of Hollyhock House.

1970 Irving Gill Dodge House demolished.

1970 Richard Neutra dies of heart attack in
Germany.

1971 Construction of the Municipal Art Gallery
on Olive Hill.

1971 Hollyhock House and Residence A listed
in National Register of Historic Places.

1974 First major restoration for the Hollyhock
House.

1978 Lloyd Wright dies.

1992 Historic Structures Report for Hollyhock
House and Schindler Terrace.

1994 Northridge earthquake results in
significant damage to the Hollyhock
House and Schindler Terrace.

2000-2005 Hollyhock House closed for major
rehabilitation and seismic retrofit.

2007 The Aline Barnsdall Complex (Hollyhock
House, Residence A, Schindler Terrace,
and other associated structures) is
designated as a National Historic
Landmark.

2015 Hollyhock House re-opens after a major
restoration.

2015 The Hollyhock House nominated for
consideration as UNESCO World
Heritage Site.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Lusvardi, Brandy (author)

Core Title The Schindler Terrace, an early modern garden: a case for conservation

School School of Architecture

Degree Master of Historic Preservation

Degree Program Historic Preservation

Publication Date 09/25/2017

Defense Date 09/22/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Aline Barnsdall,Frank Lloyd Wright,Lloyd Wright,Los Angeles,modern garden,modern landscape,OAI-PMH Harvest,Richard Neutra,Rudolf Schindler

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Sandmeier, Trudi (committee chair), Horak, Katie (committee member), Tichenor, Brian (committee member)

Creator Email brandylusvardi@gmail.com,lusvardi@usc.edu

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